US to hit 200K dead; Trump sees no need for regret

WASHINGTON: As the coronavirus pandemic began bearing down on the United States in March, President Donald Trump set out his expectations. If the US could keep the death toll between 100,000 to 200,000 people, Trump said, it would indicate that his administration had “done a very good job.” In the coming days, the number of US deaths is set to clear the outer band of the president’s projections: 200,000, according to the official tally, though the real number is certainly higher. The virus continues to spread and there is currently no approved vaccine. Some public health experts fear infections could spike this fall and winter, perhaps even doubling the death count by the end of the year. Yet the grim milestone and the prospect of more American deaths to come have prompted no rethinking from the president about his handling of the pandemic and no outward expressions of regrets. Instead, Trump has sought to reshape the significance of the death tally, trying to turn the loss of 200,000 Americans into a success story by contending the numbers could have been even higher without the actions of his administration.