Members of the White House coronavirus task force that has drawn worldwide attention amid the outbreak are being told it is ‘winding down’ even as the number of U.S. deaths and infections are projected to rise.
The task force, which was put under the domain of Vice President Mike Pence only to have President Donald Trump take over signature press briefings, has been meeting for months as the outbreak spread and U.S. deaths have climbed.
The U.S. had more than 70,000 deaths with more than 1.2 million infected, and no sign yet that the pandemic is under control.
The administration is planning to wind down its coronavirus task force, according to a report. The U.S. had more than 70,000 deaths with more than 1.2 million infected
Vice President Mike Pence confirmed the group was disbanding in a briefing with reporters at his Washington office.
‘We’re having conversations about that,’ Pence said, Bloomberg News reported, confirming a report in the New York Times.
It was not clear if another panel would replace it. A senior aide to Pence, Olivia Troye, has told task force officials to wind down there work ‘within weeks,’ according to the Times.
That would put it out of commission just as models show U.S. infections and deaths cresting.
The task force met Tuesday at the White House, according to Pence’s public schedule, but it didn’t meet Monday or Saturday. He made the comments while President Trump was en route to Arizona, where he was to tour a factory manufacturing face masks to protect medical professionals and protect Americans amid the pandemic.
Trump on Tuesday defended his refusal to allow prominent task force member, infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, to testify before House Democrats, who he claimed are ‘Trump-haters.’
SO LONG: President Donald Trump answers questions at the daily coronavirus task force briefing flanked by Dr. Anthony Fauci, Vice President Mike Pence, Dr. Deborah Birx and Admiral Brett Giroir at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 17, 2020
White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx (L) and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar attend an announcement that the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency approval for the antiviral drug remdesivir in the Oval Office at the White House May 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Azar previously ran the task force before Pence was put in charge
Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a news briefing with members of the Coronavirus Task Force at the White House, in Washington, DC, USA, 24 April 2020. He confirmed the task force he heads may be disbanding
Response coordinator for White House Coronavirus Task Force Deborah Birx sits next to Department of Homeland Security’s Under Secretary for Science and Technology William N. Bryan as they listen to US President Donald Trump speak during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on April 23, 2020, in Washington, DC
Trump has scaled back his own press briefings with the task force. In prior weeks, the events would sometimes expose apparent rifts between the president and the nation’s top experts. Reporters asked Fauci if he agreed with Trump’s touting of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment. And the president himself quizzed coronavirus coordinator Dr. Debbie Birx on the idea of injecting disinfectants into coronavirus patients.
With more and more movement toward reopening, Trump also on Tuesday mischaracterized two new reports that show an increased number of deaths from the coronavirus, a troubling sign of what may come as he pushes the country to reopen.
‘It’s a report with no mitigation,’ the president said at the White House of two new studies – based on government modeling – that show the daily virus death toll will hit 3,000 by June and another projects that over 134,000 people will die.
‘We’re doing a lot of mitigation,’ Trump said. ‘But that report is a no-mitigation report, and we are mitigating.’
The reports, however, do factor in mitigating along with changes that will come as states slowly start to reopen. Additionally, there is less mitigation taking place in the United States as businesses start to reopen, parks and beaches start to see crowds, and people begin to return to their normal routines.
Trump told reporters at the White House Tuesday: ‘We did everything right. But now it’s time to go back to work.’