On Sunday, Axios reported that the president’s aides intend to hold multiple events this week broadcasting the administration’s preparedness for the second wave of the coronavirus when it is expected to hit later this year. According to one official, they will emphasize their ability to ramp up “testing capacity going into the fall,” as well as increased access to personal protective equipment, so that “the American people can have confidence as they begin to go back out into the public square.”
Though the message is catered to inspire Americans that federal and state governments can safely navigate the current reopenings occurring in many areas of the country, it has one glaring problem: The current outbreak is still roaring, with over 1,000 Americans dying every day since April 2. As the administration’s estimate for COVID-19 deaths continues to crawl upwards, a leaked draft report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week showed that the rate could reach as high as 3,000 deaths per day by June 1. And as New York’s David Wallace-Wells notes, media depictions of the draft largely did not “communicate all that well just how dire the near future depicted by the model really was:”
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Article URL : https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/trump-to-message-second-wave-as-first-inundates-u-s-report.html