US President Donald Trump last night spoke of his administration's success in curbing the coronavirus pandemic, downplaying the spread of the disease to a crowd in Wisconsin during a campaign rally.
"We are turning the corner. We are rounding the curve, we will vanquish the virus," Trump had said, according to CNN, apparently trying to create the impression that America had almost defeated the deadly virus — whereas statistics say otherwise.
The United States is speedily on its way to surpass 10 million coronavirus cases. More than 232,000 Americans have succumbed to the deadly illness. CNN quoted the current death rate at 800 a day, saying experts have sounded alarm bells that the trend is bolting upwards with winters just around the corner.
Meanwhile Trump is holding superspreader events at a time when the US recorded more than 75,000 cases on Tuesday.
The states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nebraska identified their highest single-day spikes in new patients — at 7,525, 4,718, and 1,719 — on October 20, 19, and 10, respectively.
In Wisconsin, where he made an appearance last night, "hospitals are critically understaffed and facing the threat of being overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients," CNN noted.
The state's governor, Tony Evers, had said a day prior there was "no way to sugarcoat" that there was "an urgent crisis" and "an imminent risk to you and your family", as per the publication.
An official at Wisconsin's Department of Health Services, Andrea Palm, warned that COVID-19 cases are "increasing".
"Our increase in deaths today are the largest single day increases we've seen throughout the course of this pandemic. We must take significant and collective action," she cautioned.
But Trump shifted the blame to the media, said all it did was talk about the coronavirus, saying on Twitter that "Covid, Covid, Covid is the unified chant of the Fake News Lamestream Media".
"The Great Red Wave is coming", he had announced excitedly, effectively refusing to believe the polls.