4 Must Read Stories: Fauci Calls Coronavirus “Nightmare” As Dozens Of States See Surges & White House Goes Dark
MarketWatch: Fauci Calls Pandemic His ‘Worst Nightmare,’ Warns ‘It Isn’t Over Yet’
Politico: Kushner “privately assured colleagues last month that the outbreak was well in hand”
WaPo: Coronavirus hospitalizations rise sharply in several states following Memorial Day
- “As the number of new coronavirus cases continues to increase worldwide, and more than a dozen states and Puerto Rico are recording their highest averages of new cases since the pandemic began, hospitalizations in at least nine states have been on the rise since Memorial Day.”
- Texas “has reported two consecutive days of record-breaking coronavirus hospitalizations. The state has seen a 36 percent increase in new cases since Memorial Day, with a record 2,056 current hospitalizations as of early Tuesday afternoon. It was up from a high of 1,935 hospitalizations on Monday.”
- “In Arizona, 28,296 cases have been reported as of Tuesday, and in 13 of the past 15 days the state’s seven-day average of new cases has increased. There have been a record number of hospitalizations in the state over the past few days. As of Tuesday, Arizona reported 1,243 current hospitalizations, a 49 percent increase since Memorial Day, when there were 833 hospitalizations.”
- “Arkansas has reported 10,080 cases, and in 11 of the past 15 days the state’s seven-day average of new cases has increased. It has had an 88 percent increase in hospitalizations since Memorial Day. Arkansas had 173 hospitalizations reported on Tuesday, compared with 92 on May 25.”
- “The Carolinas have also seen a rise in hospitalizations, with North Carolina experiencing the second-largest spike in the nation behind Texas. North Carolina’s upward trend began after Memorial Day. On May 26, the state reported 621 hospitalizations but two weeks later, that number has climbed to 774.”
- “With the current spike, 12 counties in South Carolina have reached 75 percent of hospital capacity or greater, according to the state’s health department.”
- “Mississippi has reported 18,109 cases since the pandemic begin. On Tuesday, it recorded 671 hospitalizations, a new daily high. It has seen an 17 percent increase in hospitalizations since Memorial Day, with 573 reported on May 25.”
CNN: 19 States See Rising Coronavirus Cases And Arizona Is Asking Its Hospitals To Activate Emergency Plans
- “Arizona is one of the 19 states with the trend of new coronavirus cases still increasing.”
- “At its peak, Arizona’s intensive care unit beds were 78% in use. As of Monday, 76% were occupied. Arizona’s Director of Health Services Dr. Cara Christ asked that hospitals “be judicious” in elective surgeries to ensure bed capacity.”
Politico: White House goes quiet on coronavirus as outbreak spikes again across the U.S.
- “The coronavirus is still killing as many as 1,000 Americans per day — but the Trump administration isn’t saying much about it.”
- “It’s been more than a month since the White House halted its daily coronavirus task force briefings.”
- “Top officials like infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci have largely disappeared from national television — with Fauci making just four cable TV appearances in May after being a near fixture on Sunday shows across March and April — and are frequently restricted from testifying before Congress.”
- “Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is preparing to resume his campaign rallies after a three-month hiatus, an attempted signal to voters that normalcy is returning ahead of November’s election, and that he’s all but put the pandemic behind him.”
- “Inside the White House, top advisers like Jared Kushner privately assured colleagues last month that the outbreak was well in hand — citing data on declines in community spread — and that the long-feared “second wave” may have even been averted, according to three current and former officials.”
- “Those officials also acknowledge that the Covid-19 task force has scaled back its once-daily internal meetings — the task force now meets twice per week — but insist that the pandemic response remains a priority.”
- “But the White House’s apparent eagerness to change the subject comes as new coronavirus clusters — centered around meatpacking plants, prisons and other facilities — drive spikes in disparate states like Utah and Arkansas.”
Market Watch: Fauci calls pandemic his ‘worst nightmare,’ warns ‘it isn’t over yet’
- “Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday called the coronavirus pandemic his ‘worst nightmare,’ and warned that while he’s confident a vaccine will be developed, the outbreak is far from over.”
- “During an interview at a virtual conference held by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said he’s been most surprised by ‘how rapidly it just took over the planet.’ He called the current pandemic one of the worst in world history, noting that while many easily transmissible diseases take six months to a year to span the globe, COVID-19 took just a month. Fauci said the unique respiratory illness with such transmissibility and lethality ‘turned out to be my worst nightmare.’ He also dismissed hopes that the pandemic will be over anytime soon. ‘Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of it,’ he said.”