Trump downplaying sparks new criticism of COVID-19 response

President Trump‘s repeated downplaying of the coronavirus pandemic is under renewed scrutiny as COVID-19 case numbers rise, and public health experts and Democrats are saying he is making it worse by effectively denying that the growing outbreaks are a problem.

The U.S. is expected to see a new high of 60,000 new COVID-19 cases a day this week, far above the peak when New York was the epicenter of the outbreak in April. Now there are four epicenters in the U.S. where hospitals are quickly becoming overwhelmed.

Outbreaks are growing in Arizona, Texas, Florida and California, which experts say are the new epicenters of the epidemic in the U.S. There is no end to these surges in sight and cases are increasing in 40 states, compared to just 10 a few months ago. Continue reading.