Trump’s Coronavirus Response Speaks For Itself
July 16, 2020
At the press briefing today, Kayleigh McEnany said that Trump’s “historic COVID response speaks for itself.” It sure does. On top of having the most deaths and cases in the world, we’re still experiencing record unemployment, supply shortages, and testing delays, and the coronavirus is surging now more than ever.
More than 1 million people filed new jobless claims for the 17th straight week, and initial claims now total more than 51 million over the past four months.
CNBC: “Initial weekly jobless claims came in at 1.3 million for the week ending July 11, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected 1.25 million.”
Yahoo News: “Over the past four months, more than 51 million Americans have filed new unemployment claims.”
Hospitals and health care workers are still experiencing dangerous shortages of supplies and staff, and it’s only getting worse.
Vox: “Hospitals are running out of staff, supplies, and beds for Covid-19 patients — and this time could be worse”
Bloomberg: “American health-care workers still face dangerous shortages of personal protective equipment as the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 fills hospitals across the nation and threatens patients and workers in long-term care facilities.”
Testing delays and shortages make it more difficult to respond to the virus.
Wall Street Journal: “Growing Wait Times for Covid-19 Test Results Hinder Virus Response”
Wall Street Journal: “Many people in coronavirus hot spots are now waiting more than a week, and in some cases several weeks, for test results. Testing-supply shortages and delays can hamstring contact-tracing efforts, complicate decisions on whether to open or close businesses and cloud statistics used to track the virus’s spread. It also means some individuals are likely continuing to spread the virus because they either don’t yet have a result, were unable to get tested or haven’t yet been told that they have been exposed to an infected person.”
The coronavirus continues to surge. Record high new cases and increases in nearly every state will translate into more deaths.
Axios: “The coronavirus continues to spread nearly unchecked across almost the entire country: 37 states saw their caseloads increase over the past week, and only two states experienced a meaningful improvement. Why it matters: These rapidly escalating outbreaks will translate into thousands of deaths and make it all the harder to safely reopen schools or otherwise reclaim some sense of normalcy.”
New York Times: “The United States on Wednesday reported more than 67,300 new infections across the country, according to a New York Times database. It was the nation’s second-highest single-day total and roughly 1,000 cases shy of the record set last week. The U.S. outbreak, which has increased in 41 states over the past two weeks, hit 3.5 million total infections on Wednesday, the Times’s database shows.”