Sources: White House considers winding down virus task force in coming weeks
Trump administration officials are telling members and staff of the coronavirus task force the White House plans to wind down the operation in coming weeks despite growing evidence that the crisis is raging on.
It is not clear whether any other group might replace the task force. But its gradual demise, which officials said might never be formally announced, would only intensify questions about whether the administration is adequately organized to address the complex, life-and-death decisions related to the virus and giving adequate voice to scientists and public health experts in making policy.
While the task force’s advice has sometimes been swept aside by President Donald Trump and its recommendations for criteria on reopening for business defied by a number of states, it has served as the closest thing the White House has for running a centralized response to the pandemic.
A top adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, who has helped oversee the task force, Olivia Troye, has told senior officials involved in the task force to expect the group to wind down within weeks, a notice echoed by other top White House officials. While the task force met Tuesday at the White House, Monday’s meeting was canceled, and a Saturday session, a staple of recent months, was never held.
Mr. Trump has stopped linking his news briefings on the virus to the task force’s meetings and no longer routinely arrays task force members around him in his public appearances.
A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the task force will be winding down as the White House moves toward Phase One of Mr. Trump’s plan to “open up” the country. The focus now will be on therapeutics, vaccine development and testing, the official said.
A White House spokeswoman declined to comment.
A group led by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s sonin-law and senior adviser, has been functioning as something of a shadow task force. That group is likely to continue working; among other issues, Mr.
Kushner is said to be discussing a new role for someone to oversee development of therapeutic treatments.
From its start in January, the task force has been divided. The secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, has been criticized for excluding key administration officials and was ousted as the leader of the group, replaced by Mr. Pence in late February. Mr. Trump took over its public briefings, often turning them into 90minute-to-two-hour moments to air grievances, praise his own handling of the crisis and offer up his own prescriptions.