The Trump administration says it's preparing for a possible second wave of the coronavirus after a week of downplaying the recent surge sweeping across nearly half the nation.
June 22, 2020

CNN's New Day opened with the rapid increase in virus cases this morning.

John Berman said this was "exactly what public health officials have been worried about -- a serious coronavirus surge across the country."

As of this morning, he said, 23 states are seeing a rise in the number of cases.

"You can see them in red right there, 11 with growth of more than 50%. Nationwide, cases have risen more than 15%. Despite what you hear from officials, this is not just about more testing. This is a substantial increase in the rate of people getting sick and an increase in the number of people who are so sick that they're in the hospital.

"The White House now acknowledges that they're preparing for a second wave in the fall, less than a week after Vice President Pence said fears about a second wave were overblown. The states of particular concern this morning include Florida and Arizona, where President Trump is holding an event tomorrow. You can see the spikes in the cases there."

Rosa Flores reported from Florida.

"Good morning. The White House continues to send mixed messages regarding the covid-19 pandemic, but here's the thing. States continue to report a record number of covid-19 cases as the United States is about to hit a grim milestone: 120,000 american fatalities. The Trump administration says it's preparing for a possible second wave of the coronavirus after a week of downplaying the recent surge sweeping across nearly half the nation.

We are filling the stockpile in anticipation of a possible problem in the fall. We are doing everything we can underneath the surface, working as hard as we possibly can.

"Last week, Vice President Mike Pence said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that panic over a second wave was overblown. and on Saturday, President Trump said this to supporters about coronavirus testing."

So I said to my people, slow the testing down, please. They test and they test. We had tests of people that don't know what's going on.

"His staff leader said he's joking, but the increase in cases in at least 23 states is very serious for state leaders."

"Do you think the people, the 120,000 families out there who are missing their loved ones, thought it was funny?" Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon