Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Is White House Giving Up On Limiting Spread Of Coronavirus?
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday that the US is "not going to control" the coronavirus pandemic, as cases surge across the country and nearly 225,000 Americans have died from the virus. "We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas," Meadows told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." (Cole, 10/25)
Yet President Donald Trump 鈥 who continues to insist that the country is 鈥渞ounding the corner鈥 despite a new surge in cases 鈥 is campaigning in New Hampshire and Maine on Sunday before returning to the White House to co-host a Halloween event with first lady Melania Trump. Vice President Mike Pence will also continue to campaign instead of quarantine, after a top staffer tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday (McCaskill, 10/25)
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who regularly wears a mask on the campaign trail and strictly adheres to social distancing guidelines, sought to capitalize on the remark. 鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 a slip by Meadows; it was a candid acknowledgment of what President Trump鈥檚 strategy has clearly been from the beginning of this crisis: to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus would simply go away,鈥 Biden said in a statement. 鈥淚t hasn鈥檛, and it won鈥檛.鈥 (Rucker, Dawsey and Wang, 10/25)
In related news 鈥
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden slammed White House chief of staff Mark Meadows鈥檚 remarks Sunday that the U.S. is 鈥渘ot going to control the pandemic.鈥 Biden labeled Meadows鈥檚 comments as a 鈥渃andid acknowledgement鈥 of President Trump鈥檚 strategy 鈥渢o wave the white flag鈥 in a statement released Sunday. (Coleman, 10/25)
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said the American people would be better off if President Trump and members of his administration did nothing to try and slow the spread of coronavirus across the country.聽"At this point, we would be better off if the Trump Administration just did NOTHING on聽#COVID19," Murphy said in a tweet Sunday. "The nation would be safer if the whole White House stayed in bed all day." (Mastrangelo, 10/25)