As coronavirus deaths continue to mount and many Americans remain hesitant to return to the rhythms of normal life, President Donald Trump is beginning to acknowledge that additional lives may be lost in the push to reopen the U.S. economy.
This is as over 70,000 Americans have died.
“Will some people be affected badly? Yes,” the president told reporters Tuesday. “But we have to get our country open.” During a television interview, as the U.S. death toll 70,000, Trump admitted that it’s “possible” more Americans will die as governors lift stay-at-home orders that were implemented to slow the spread of the virus.
Many infectious-disease researchers have expressed skepticism about a new paper — not yet peer-reviewed — suggesting that a strain of the coronavirus has mutated to become more contagious.
Although the rate of infection shows no sign of slowing, Vice President Pence said the administration’s coronavirus task force could be dismantled in the next month because “of the tremendous progress we’ve made as a country.”
The European Union says its economy is expected to shrink by 7.4 percent this year — the continent’s worst downturn since World War II.
Some publicly traded companies are refusing to return the money they received through a small-business loans program, saying the Treasury Department changed its rules after granting the funds.
Volunteers recruited by senior adviser Jared Kushner to help with the administration’s covid-19 response lacked relevant experience and bungled attempts to obtain crucial medical supplies, according to a complaint filed with the House Oversight Committee.
Almost every inmate inside a Louisiana women’s prison facility has tested positive for the virus. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court has ruled that a Miami jail cannot be forced to give soap, masks and cleaning supplies to inmates.
Pence heading to Iowa to highlight reopening of religious services, maintaining food supply
Vice President Pence plans to visit Iowa on Friday to discuss reopening religious services to the public and maintaining the nation’s food supply, the latest in a series of trips that he and President Trump are making to highlight the administration’s response to the coronavirus.
Pence’s planned travel comes in the wake of Trump’s visit Tuesday to a face-mask manufacturing facility in Arizona, a trip he used to tout his desire to see an easing of stay-at-home restrictions that have undercut the economy.
According to his office, Pence is scheduled to meet with faith leaders in Des Moines to discuss safely lifting restrictions on services at “houses of worship.” He also plans to visit the headquarters of Hy-Vee, a company that announced this week that it would impose limits on meat sales at its stores due to worker shortages at meatpacking plants.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order compelling meat processors to remain open to address anticipated shortages in the nation’s food supply chains, despite mounting reports of plant worker deaths due to covid-19.
