White House officials said Wednesday that they are more optimistic about the passage of a scaled-back coronavirus relief package and overall economic recovery.
“I think the outlook for a skinny deal is better than it’s ever been, and yet, we are still not there,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters on Wednesday. “If Speaker Pelosi moves forward a single bill on postal … let’s add in the things we can agree upon.”
Meadows suggested that Democrats and Republicans are getting closer to reaching a narrower relief deal following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to call up a bill for a Saturday vote providing $25 billion to the U.S. Postal Service.
“That’s the first indication we have that she’ll do a skinny bill,” Meadows said.
Another White House official, economic adviser Larry Kudlow, said Wednesday that the economy is coming back “very, very strongly” and said the new $300 federal unemployment insurance bonus should be in bank accounts in “the next week or two.”
“I think the economy is on a self-sustaining recovery, and it’s a V-shaped recovery,” he said. “We’re seeing terrific numbers.”
The White House has continued to push the narrative of a sharp economic recovery after a record-setting recession. But the surge in new cases over the summer stalled progress that states had been making in getting people out of their houses and to restaurants and stores. Stalled coronavirus aid talks have compounded risks that people most adversely affected by the recession will see continued financial hardships.
The threat of a second wave of the pandemic remains as the United States is still recording about 50,000 new cases daily. However, Kudlow signaled that he is not worried about a possible second wave.
“The hope is that the decline in cases and fatalities will continue,” Kudlow said. “That’s the great hope.”
Currently, the U.S. has more than 5.5 million COVID-19 cases, an increase of about 45,000 since Tuesday. More than 172,600 people have died.
Nearly 7 in 10 people are embarrassed by the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to new polling from CNN. The poll also found that public disapproval of President Trump’s response to the pandemic has hit a new high at 58%.
The poll also found that about 80% of people are also angry about how things are going in the U.S. overall, and an astonishing 51% say they are very angry. CNN has asked this same question in polling periodically since 2008, and the previous high for the share who said they were “very angry” was 35%, reached in 2008 and in 2016.
An official in the South Dakota Health Department warned Tuesday that a customer who went to a bar during the 10-day motorcycle rally in Sturgis last week has tested positive for COVID-19. Most people at the rally, which attracted about 462,000 vehicles, did not abide by coronavirus health precautions such as wearing masks and other social distancing guidelines, leading health officials to fear that the festival would become a superspreader event.
The infected person may have exposed several others, and the South Dakota Health Department has advised anyone who went to One-Eyed Jack’s Saloon on Aug. 11 to self-quarantine for two weeks.
Italy and Spain, former coronavirus epicenters, both hit records Wednesday for the highest number of new COVID-19 cases confirmed since each country ended their lockdowns in May and June, the Associated Press reported.
Italy recorded 642 new infections and seven new deaths, bringing the total case count to 225,000 cases and 35,400 deaths. Spain confirmed 3,715 infections and 127 new fatalities Wednesday, raising its tallies to more than 360,000 cases and about 28,800 deaths. The new numbers signal that while European countries have significantly ramped up testing and may have seen the worst of the pandemic, the coronavirus still poses a threat.
Federal health agencies will begin working with state, local, territorial, and tribal health departments to collect coronavirus data on sewage samples and wastewater in an effort to catch the virus before it spreads further. Wastewater testing can help communities where coronavirus tests are “underutilized or unavailable,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Depending on the level of virus in the sewage, wastewater testing can also be a leading indicator of a worsening outbreak.
Hawaii announced that it won’t reopen for tourism until October due to a recent rise in COVID-19 cases. Beginning in September, that state was going to allow tourists to forego the two-week quarantine upon arrival if they could present a negative COVID-19 test no less than 72 hours old. That is now on hold until Oct. 1. Tourism accounts for over 20% of Hawaii’s economy.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said “it’s possible” he would issue an executive order to deal with coronavirus spread in the state’s colleges and universities. Virus clusters have occurred at North Carolina State University, East Appalachian State University, and East Carolina University. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, nearly 130 students tested positive for COVID-19 in the first week after classes started, causing the university to suspend in-person classes.
