As deaths hit record levels, Trump continues to lie about the coronavirus, saying it will disappear and falsely suggesting that children are almost immune. The U.S. has averaged over 1,000 deaths for 17 straight days, but Trump still refuses to listen to the experts and does not have a plan to control the virus.

Trump continues to say the virus is “going away” even as the U.S. hit the highest number of deaths in a single day since mid-May yesterday and averaged over 1,000 deaths for 17 straight days.

TRUMP: “We’re still in the pandemic, which will be going away. As I say, it will be going away.”

Washington Post: “As the United States reported its highest number of deaths from the novel coronavirus in a single day since mid-May, President Trump on Wednesday continued to press for the nation’s schools to bring children into classrooms, for businesses to open and for athletes to fill stadiums.”

CNN: “The seven-day average of daily coronavirus deaths was just over 1,000 on Tuesday, the 16th consecutive day the US averaged over 1,000 deaths per day. [Wednesday] became the 17th day as more than 1,300 deaths were reported.”

Trump continues to lie that kids “don’t get sick” even as they’re forced to quarantine after their classmates tested positive, and he replaced public health experts with a Fox News pundit who echoes his lies in order to push schools to unsafely reopen.

QUESTION: “The transmission rate as some students are now rising in the numbers of COVID cases… are you at all concerned about that?”

TRUMP: “No because they don’t get sick.”

Bloomberg: “Hundreds Quarantined in Schools That Followed Trump’s Advice”

CNN: “The man Trump was pointing to was Dr. Scott Atlas, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution who frequently appears on Fox News and has advised Republicans in the past. And crucially, unlike the government’s medical experts who have advised Trump until now, has adopted a public stance on the virus much closer to Trump’s — including decrying the idea that schools cannot reopen this fall as ‘hysteria’ and pushing for the resumption of college sports.”

The country is doing less testing, and there is less hospital data available after his administration ordered states to report it directly to them, hurting the pandemic response.

Axios: “The U.S. is cutting back on coronavirus testing. Nationally, the number of tests performed each day is about 17% lower than it was at the end of July, and testing is also declining in hard-hit states.”

Wall Street Journal: “Public release of hospital data about the coronavirus pandemic has slowed to a crawl, one month after the federal government ordered states to report it directly to the Department of Health and Human Services and bypass the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”