Congressional Democrats condemned President Trump on Thursday after he suggested that he contracted COVID-19 from Gold Star family members.
“Sometimes, I’d be in groups of, for instance, Gold Star families,” Trump said in an interview on Fox Business. “I met with Gold Star families. I didn’t want to cancel that … They come within an inch of my face, sometimes.”
That drew a sharp response from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “It is a very important question for our country because now, the president is saying that he probably got this from the Gold Star families. Can you believe that he would say such a thing?”
Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island and ranking minority member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was even tougher. “Whether he intended it or not, the president has blamed an event with families who lost their loved ones in battle for giving him COVID. That is a shocking statement even for this president,” he said. “He must immediately apologize. Failure to do so would be yet another example of his callous disregard and disrespect for the women and men of our armed forces who we ask to stand in harm’s way.”
White House spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said that the administration did not blame the families at the event for the president’s illness. The White House is “[by] no means blaming anyone who was present,” she told reporters.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Trump looks healthy almost a week after he announced he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19.
“He certainly looks good and apparently feels good,” Fauci told MSNBC. “One of the issues that we all have to be aware, and his physicians are aware of this, that the history of COVID-19 is that you could look and feel like you’re doing reasonably well, and after a couple of days, you could have a downturn, namely have a reversal. That’s possible. The chances of that happening, I don’t know. As good as he looks, I don’t think that’s going to happen, but I don’t know.”
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, also warned that Trump could have a relapse, saying that people with the virus might look healthy, but symptoms may worsen days after the diagnosis.
To date, just under 7.6 million coronavirus cases and 212,000 deaths have been confirmed in the United States.
At least 34 people at the White House have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a memo leaked from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Prior to the memo, news sources had reported that only 24 White House staff members have tested positive.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated that he is not comfortable with how the White House is taking precautions during the coronavirus pandemic.
During a Thursday press conference in Kentucky, McConnell acknowledged that he hasn’t been to the White House since Aug. 6 and said its attitude toward the coronavirus is the reason he’s staying away.
“I haven’t actually been to the White House since August the 6th,” he said. “My impression was that their approach to how to handle this is different from mine and what I suggested that we do in the Senate, which is to wear a mask and practice social distancing.”
The New England Journal of Medicine all but endorsed Joe Biden, citing the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The medical journal, which had never supported or condemned a candidate for political office, did so for the first time on Wednesday, when an editorial signed by 34 editors was published calling for those who have handled the government’s response to the health crisis, which they called “inadequate,” to be voted out of office.
“Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences. Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment,” the editors wrote.
A flu vaccine could offer protection against the coronavirus, too.
The kind of flu vaccine in question has a live virus in it. Known as “live, attenuated vaccines,” they contain live but weakened versions of the virus that are harmless to humans. Live vaccines not only fight the intended disease but also provide protection against other diseases, including respiratory infections, according to researchers interviewed by NPR.
“People who get the live flu vaccine will also be protected against the COVID-19,” said Robert Gallo, director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “That’s the hypothesis.”
The number of new applications for unemployment benefits fell only slightly to 840,000 last week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. New claims have barely budged over the past six weeks and remain at extremely high levels. Before the pandemic, weekly jobless claims were running closer to 200,000. The claims numbers suggest that layoffs are still running at recessionary rates.
Nearly a quarter of the U.S. population is struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic, according to new Census Bureau survey data released Thursday. Over 76 million people have a “somewhat” or “very” difficult time paying usual household expenses, such as rent or mortgage, food costs, and car payments.
Pelosi said she won’t agree to a narrow bill to bail out the struggling airline industry, telling reporters it would have to be part of a much bigger package.
Trump had called on her to pass a stand-alone bill to help airlines quickly.
“It’s not going to happen,” Pelosi said. “Ain’t going to be no stand-alone bill unless there is a bigger bill, and it could be part of that or in addition to that.”
