Tag: COVDI-19

Trump says he has a ‘very good relationship’ with Fauci amid White House criticism

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday said he has a “very good relationship” with Dr. Anthony Fauci, downplaying the existence of a rift with the government’s top infectious diseases expert even as multiple White House aides openly criticize the doctor.

“I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci. I’ve had for a long time, right from the beginning,” Trump told reporters at a White House event meant to highlight positive actions by police. “I find him to be a very nice person. I don’t always agree with him.”

“I get along with him very well. I like him, personally,” Trump added. Continue reading.

Live updates: Coronavirus cases surge in Florida and California; Trump says testing is ‘overrated’

NOTE: This article is being provided free of charge by The Washington Post.
Washington Post logoAs novel coronavirus caseloads continue to surge across the South and West, Arizona announced 2,519 new cases on Thursday morning, Florida announced 3,207, and California reported 4,084. All are new highs.

Coronavirus hospitalizations in Arizona have doubled since Memorial Day, with public data showing inpatient beds across the state at 85 percent capacity. Most of California’s new cases — 2,115 — are in Los Angeles County. Florida announced 43 new deaths, and its rolling case average hit a new high for the 11th straight day.

Florida is on track to becoming the “next large epicenter” for the coronavirus in the United States, according to new modeling from PolicyLab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which linked the spread in community transmission to travel during Memorial Day weekend. Continue reading.

On The Trail: Trump didn’t create these crises, but they are getting worse

The Hill logoSince he rode down an escalator at Trump Tower five years ago this month, President Trump has been at the hub of the American consciousness, driving the news with policies and actions that enrage half the country and fire up his base.

Now, five months before voters decide whether to give him a second term, it is Trump who finds himself off balance, beset by two crises that are not of his own making.

Donald Trump did not create the coronavirus. Donald Trump did not create the structural racism that has plagued the country since before its founding. Continue reading.

National Parks reopen without release of plan or infection data

Most parks were closed in March after being inundated with guests who were not observing CDC guidelines

The Interior Department is reopening national parks across the country even as the agency withholds data on COVID-19 cases among its employees.

Last week, some of the most visited national parks, including Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, became the latest among dozens of parks reopening. Parks had been mostly closed since March after being inundated with guests who were not observing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to minimize the spread of the novel coronavirus.

A spokesperson for Interior didn’t elaborate on how decisions to reopen were being made or whether the agency was tracking coronavirus cases among Park Service staff. The spokesperson referred CQ Roll Call to a prior statement that the “health and safety” of visitors, employees, volunteers and partners continues to be the agency’s “highest” priority. Continue reading.

Drug promoted by Trump as coronavirus ‘game changer’ increasingly linked to deaths

Washington Post logoFor two months, President Trump repeatedly pitched hydroxychloroquine as a safe and effective treatment for coronavirus, asking would-be patients “What the hell do you have to lose?”

Growing evidence shows that, for many, the answer is their lives.

Clinical trials, academic research and scientific analysis indicate that the danger of the Trump-backed drug is a significantly increased risk of death for certain patients. Evidence showing the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating covid-19 has been scant. Those two developments pushed the Food and Drug Administration to warn against the use of hydroxychloroquine outside of a hospital setting last month, just weeks after it approved an emergency use authorization for the drug. Continue reading.

Trump sets goal of hundreds of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses by January, but scientists doubt it

Washington Post logoSome warn it’s dangerous to set a timetable, given the scientific unknowns and the danger of rushing testing.

President Trump formally unveiled an initiative Friday afternoon aimed at making hundreds of millions of doses of a coronavirus vaccine broadly available by year’s end — a goal that many scientists say is unrealistic and could even backfire by shortchanging safety and undermining faith in vaccines more broadly.

The Rose Garden news conference added to a week of confusing and contradictory remarks about the prospects and timeline for a vaccine, which is seen as the key to returning to normal life. A day earlier, a former top U.S. vaccine official testified before Congress that he was doubtful about the 12-to-18-month time frame frequently touted as a goal. The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases testified Tuesday that 12 to 18 months was possible but there was no guarantee a vaccine would work at all.

But Trump and other officials projected certainty Friday that an effective vaccine would be widely available by year’s end from among 14 promising candidates that had been winnowed from a field of more than 100. The chief scientist of the new initiative, pharmaceutical industry veteran Moncef Slaoui, even teased that he had seen early clinical data from an unspecified vaccine trial that gave him hope. Continue reading.