Trump claims 'victory' as US sees Covid-19 case
records in multiple states
Florida says confirmed cases up by record 11,458 but
president claims US on the way to ‘tremendous victory’ over coronavirus
Tom Lutz
and Martin Pengelly in New York
Sat 4 Jul
2020 22.22 BSTFirst published on Sat 4 Jul 2020 16.31 BST
On the
Fourth of July national holiday, a day after the US reported a third straight
day with a more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases and as Florida and Texas
reported more record rises, Donald Trump claimed “a tremendous victory” was at
hand.
“It’s going
to happen and it’s going to happen big,” the president said in a message to the
nation. “Our country will be greater than ever before.”
In fact, as
a weekend of socially distanced fireworks and face-masked barbecues began,
researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported at least 51,842 new
coronavirus cases on Friday.
Florida,
one of the worst-hit states, confirmed cases there had risen by a record
11,458, the second time in three days the caseload had gone up by more than
10,000. North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Alaska, Missouri,
Idaho and Alabama also registered new daily highs. Texas also hit a new peak for
hospitalisations.
According
to researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland who released the daily
figure for Friday, the US has now recorded more than 2.8m cases of Covid-19 and
nearly 130,000 deaths.
Trump
claimed: “We were doing better than any country had done in history ... and
then we got hit with this terrible plague from China and now we’re getting
closer to fighting our way out of it.”
In fact,
records show Covid-19 cases are rising in 37 states and falling significantly
in only one, Vermont.
Trump
continued: “Our country is coming back, our jobs numbers are spectacular, a lot
of things are happening that people don’t quite see yet. We’re on our way to a
tremendous victory. It’s going to happen and it’s going to happen big. Our
country will be greater than ever before.”
On
Thursday, the federal jobs report showed a surge in hiring. Experts cautioned
that the numbers were drawn from the beginning of economic reopening, before a
consequent surge in cases.
On Twitter
on Saturday, Trump repeated his claim that “if we didn’t test so much and so
successfully, we would have very few cases”, and said: “In the meantime, deaths
and the all important mortality rate goes down.”
Experts say
the US mortality rate has fallen due to testing, treatment and the age and
health profile of those now being infected. Any increase in mortality would be
expected to lag behind a rise in diagnoses.
Joe Biden,
Trump’s opponent in the presidential election in November, also released a
message marking the holiday. Discussing civil unrest over police brutality and
structural racism – protests which inspired Trump’s claims about “far-left
fascism” in a speech at Mount Rushmore on Friday – Biden promised to win “a
battle for the soul of this nation”.
On Twitter,
the former vice-president added: “This Fourth of July, one of the most
patriotic things you can do is wear a mask.”
Masks were
optional at the Trump event in South Dakota, where social distancing was not in
evidence. As Trump spoke, Kimberly Guilfoyle, a senior campaign official and
Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend, was reported to have tested positive for the
virus.
It was
reported that face coverings would be available at the White House on Saturday
night, when Trump was due to hold another holiday celebration. Preparations for
the event included socially distanced chairs seen on the South Lawn.
According
to a report from CNN, meanwhile, the White House has denied public health
leaders permission to appear on television and speak on behalf of the federal
government about steps to contain the coronavirus.
One
anonymous official said Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was thought too blunt about the dangers of
Covid-19, or too “doom and gloom”.
Earlier
this week, Fauci testified before a Senate committee, an appearance broadcast
on TV. He delivered a sobering message: that the US could soon see 100,000 new
cases a day and that the death toll “is going to be very disturbing”.
Since then,
in states including Texas and Florida, hospitals have continued to fill and
reopening measures have been rescinded. States which suffered at the beginning
of the outbreak, New York prominent among them, are also slowing reopening.
In March
and April, as cases surged on the east coast and elsewhere, members of the
White House taskforce on Covid-19 were familiar figures on TV. Fauci in
particular won praise for his calm and no-nonsense advice, which often stood in
contrast to speculative and confused messaging from Trump himself.
But Fauci
last appeared spoke directly to US TV networks on 12 June. According to CNN, he
and other prominent members of the taskforce, such as Drs Deborah Birx and
Robert Redfield, now rarely grant TV interviews. The anonymous source told CNN
officials have been unable to gain permission to appear even though “now is the
time to be sending a strong public health message”.
Even
figures seen as more amenable to the administration’s aims have struggled for
airtime. The surgeon general, Dr Jerome Adams, has made just two broadcast
appearances in the last few weeks, one on local radio and the other on NBC on
Friday. There, Adams was asked about Trump’s decision not to wear a mask in
public.
“Every
single person has to make up their own mind,” he said.
Alex Azar,
the health secretary, has appeared on most major networks in the last few
weeks. Fauci, CNN said, has been appearing on media less used by the White
House, such as podcasts and foreign broadcasts.
On Friday,
NBC reported that the White House is preparing to change its messaging on the
coronavirus, to tell Americans it simply has to be lived with.
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