Pelosi: Trump’s initial denial on coronavirus was ‘deadly’
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Sunday accused US President Donald Trump of having denied the true extent and severity of the coronavirus pandemic, charging that this decision cost lives.
“His denial at the beginning was deadly,” Pelosi said on CNN on Sunday, as the US death toll passed 2,000 on Saturday.
Pelosi, the top Democrat, sharply objected to a proposal floated by Trump to reopen the country’s economy by April 12, warning that the virus is still spreading and a lack of testing means emerging hotspots may be escaping observation.
Her statement comes as the coronavirus outbreak worsens with New York state as the current epicentre and hotspots emerging in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Chicago, among other urban centres.
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Anthony Fauci, a top public health official, warned that the US death toll from the novel coronavirus could top 100,000 people and could infect millions of people.
Fauci issued the dire warning during an interview with CNN, however, he cautioned that projections are a “moving target” and it is easy to be wrong.
Fauci, a key advisor to Trump on the coronavirus outbreak, said more and quicker testing is needed before restrictions ordering people to stay at home across the country are lifted.
The governor of Louisiana said Sunday that the US state’s health care system is set to be soon overwhelmed by the sharply rising number of coronavirus cases in the emerging hotspots.
“We remain on a trajectory to overwhelm our capacity to deliver health care by the end of the first week in April,” John Bel Edwards told broadcaster ABC.
His remarks echoed other state and local officials around the country, who are urging people to stay home to slow the spread of the virus and reduce the load on the medical system.
Meanwhile, jurisdictions throughout the country are scrambling to obtain more ventilators, a potentially life-saving piece of medical equipment for people suffering from severe cases of Covid-19.
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio told CNN he has enough medical equipment to last until next Sunday, but was in desperate need of more ventilators.
The governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, also told ABC “we’re still way short” on ventilators. “That’s our number one need,” Murphy added.
Pelosi accused Trump of having done too little in the initial weeks, and criticized his refusal until last week to use his powers to force the private sector to produce essential medical equipment.
“We cannot continue to allow him to make these underestimations about what is happening here,” Pelosi said.
The Democratic leader added that a fourth stimulus package – on top of the 2-trillion-dollar package signed into law this week – is needed to aid the economy and bolster state and local government budgets.
She referred to the unprecedented stimulus package as just a “down payment,” vowing to return to talks on Capitol Hill. “We need to do more.”
Kevin McCarthy, leader of the Republicans in the House, was hesitant to commit to another aid bill, while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that he hopes more aid “is not needed” but would be willing to seek out more economic stimulus. (dpa)
