White House backs down: after all, the US will not be able to control the pandemic

The White House admitted on Sunday that the United States will not be able to control the pandemic because it is so contagious, in a change to the posture of minimizing the severity of the crisis, at a time when there are new records of contagions.

“We are not going to control the pandemic, we are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapies and other ways to mitigate it,” said Mark Meadows, US President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, during an interview with CNN.

Asked why he said it was not possible to control the covid-19 pandemic, Meadows replied, “Because it is a very contagious virus, like the flu”, adding that the White House is trying to contain it.

His comments come a day after Trump insisted that the United States is “turning the page” of the pandemic and that the data on the incidence in the country is incredible, considering that the increase in the number of cases is not something to cause alarm. .

On Friday, the United States recorded a daily record of new contagions of covid-19, with more than 85,000 in just 24 hours, and on Saturday it almost touched that mark, with 83 178, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Nearly 8.6 million Americans have been infected with the new coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, and it is expected that this Sunday the barrier of 225 thousand deaths due to this infection is expected to be exceeded, more than in any other country.

The new rise in cases in the United States affects mainly the western zone and states that traverse the Rocky Mountains, including some territories that will be key in the November 3 elections, such as Wisconsin and Ohio.

Trump attributed this rise on Saturday to the number of tests being carried out in the country and considered it “stupid” that so many tests are carried out on the covid-19, because that “gives the media something to talk about” before the elections.

Experts disagree with Trump’s argument that cases go up simply because more tests are done: this logic does not take into account the fact that the percentage of tests that are positive has increased by more than one percentage point since the beginning of October, to 5, 8% currently.

The rise in cases coincides with a new outbreak of covid-19 in the White House, where US Vice President Mike Pence rejects quarantining and plans to continue the campaign after it is revealed that at least five people close to tested positive in the past few days.

– .