South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Trump limits virus talk as states make own rules
Local officials mostly stop asking for federal help
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly hands-off approach to the coronavirus crisis in recent days even as COVID-19 cases and deaths have surged to record highs in a huge slice of the country, including areas where he has enjoyed strong support.
Meanwhile, governors and big city mayors in much of the United States are sending a blunt message to their constituents: Don’t expect a federal cavalry to save the day.
Throughout the crisis, the president has been quick to convey certitude, with threats to state and local officials who did not heed his warnings. But as the pandemic has continued to ravage the nation, his actions have largely been muted.
Large districts in Los Angeles, Houston and suburban Washington are among those to defy Trump’s demand that schools fully reopen this fall. They announced last week that the escalating virus cases will cause them to delay opening their buildings for in-person learning. Others districts, including New York City and Chicago, have laid out initial plans for a combination of in-person and online learning.
At the same time, governors and mayors have largely stopped pleading for more federal government help. Instead, they are making it clear that it will be on the shoulders of communities to stem the accelerating spread of the virus.
“Our future truly lies in our own hands,” Republican Gov. Mike DeWine told Ohioans last week.
The caution coming from many statehouses and city halls contrasts with the upbeat outlook from Trump. He has limited his comments on the virus recently and shifted his attention to his administration’s efforts to revive the economy and attack the presumptive Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden.
But with Trump’s public approval ratings sinking over his handling of the crisis less than four months before Election Day, administration officials say the president may need to pivot to a more aggressive approach.
Kellyanne Conway, a White House senior adviser, noted that polls early in the crisis showed that a majority of Americans approved of his handling of the outbreak. This was when Trump was holding near daily briefings.
“I just think the people want to hear from the president of the United States,” Conway said. “It doesn’t have to be daily. It doesn’t have to be for two hours. But in my view, it has to be.”
In the meantime, the crisis continues to worsen. On Thursday, the U.S. reported more than 70,000 new COVID-19 cases, a single day record.
The Florida Department of Health reported 156 new coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, the most yet in a 24-hour period. It was one of 10 states to reach a record for deaths in a single day last week, joining Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.
On Thursday, Trump made a brief detour during an event to spotlight his administration’s deregulation record to praise himself for his handling of the pandemic.
“No administration in history has removed more red tape more quickly to rescue the economy and to protect the health of our people,” Trump said.
A day earlier during a visit to a UPS facility in Georgia, a hot spot where confirmed cases have surged, he only mentioned the virus in passing. He instead rehashed old attacks on China.
This hands-off approach to the virus contrasts with his words and actions against what he’s described derisively as the “left-wing mob,” protesters who have taken to the streets around the country to decry racial injustice following the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Trump deployed militarized federal agents to Portland, Oregon, angering city and state officials when the agents detained people far from the federal property they were sent to protect.
Despite Trump’s optimistic outlook on the pandemic, some top public health experts on the White House coronavirus task force, most notably infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, are raising red flags.
Fauci has warned that the United States could soon see 100,000 infections per day. “We haven’t even begun to see the end of it yet,” Fauci said during a talk hosted by Stanford University’s School of Medicine.
But at this point, elected officials are looking past the White House and confronting the shifting crisis on their own terms. The talk at the local level, particularly in Democratic-run cities, seems disconnected from Trump’s assurances that a vaccine will be developed at “warp speed” and that the economy is already “getting back” to where it was before the pandemic.