Pence says alarm over coronavirus second wave was exaggerated

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Vice President Pence lambasts media for overstated reports over the second wave of coronavirus.
• The head of Trump’s COVID-19 task force claims the increase in the number of cases is due to the government’s expanded testing capacity.
• Former CDC chief says the recent rise in cases only means that the virus continues to spread.

On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence accused media of exaggerating concerns over the second wave of COVOD-19 cases in the United States. He claimed on an opinion column of in The Wall Street Journal that the White House’s response has been efficient despite the rising number of recent infections in many states.

“Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and the courage and compassion of the American people, our public health system is far stronger than it was four months ago, and we are winning the fight against the invisible enemy,” Pence wrote in the op-ed.

Specialists are in doubt that the nation is to face a second wave, but they raise concerns that the U.S hasn’t got over the first surge of coronavirus.

According to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University,  the U.S reached over 2.1 million positive cases with a death toll exceeding 116,000.

Pence, on the same editorial, also emphasized the expanded testing capacity and the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE)supplies.

He also mentioned the drop in daily coronavirus fatalities and the flattening of the of new cases daily at only 20,000. Pence claimed that this is an indication the U.S. was winning against the crisis, adding that most states have reported a decline in the number of infected cases.

The vice president then attacks the media for bringing a counter-narrative to the counter to the administration’s achievements, saying that the government has overcome the challenge presented by the pandemic.

“In recent days, the media has taken to sounding the alarm bells over a ‘second wave’ of coronavirus infections. Such panic is overblown,” he wrote.

According to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week, average daily listed cases and deaths are decreasing. However, there are still signs of continuing municipal transmission across the U.S.

The CDC explained that the epicenter of the pandemic has transferred from New York to other states that have eased up stay-at-home measures recently.

Tom Frieden, Former CDC director under the Obama administration, posted on a blog on Tuesday that the ratio of tests with positive results is rising in the U.S., which shows the spread of the virus has been growing for at least seven days.

Arizona, Texas, Florida, South Carolina are some of the states facing an upsurge in virus cases.

“This is not the kind of trend you want to see. This is NOT from more testing, it’s from more spread,” Frieden wrote.

Source: The Hill