President Donald Trump's attempts to project more somber messaging on the COVID-19 pandemic were motivated in part by data showing death rates rising in states critical to his reelection chances, the Washington Post reported Monday.
In examining Trump's months of failing to take the virus seriously, the Post reported that in recent weeks, "senior advisers began presenting Trump with maps and data showing spikes in coronavirus cases among 'our people' in Republican states" and warned that cases and deaths are now steadily rising again in Midwestern states crucial to Trumps' re-election, like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, in addition to the serious outbreaks in Florida, Texas, and Arizona.
Michigan is reporting a seven-day average of 688 new cases per day, Wisconsin is reporting a seven-day average of 900 new cases, and Minnesota is reporting an average of over 700 new cases per day, according to data compiled by The New York Times. As of Monday, there are currently over 4.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, and over 146,000 confirmed deaths in the United States.
Read more: There are 24 coronavirus vaccine candidates now in human trials. Here's how drugmakers see the race for a cure playing out in 2020.
Voters continue to disapprove of Trump's handling of the pandemic by double-digit margins and Trump trails Democratic nominee former VP Joe Biden both nationally and in several key swing states.
In light of both the worsening state of the outbreak and its implications for his political fortunes, Trump has taken some measures to admit that the virus is a serious problem. He has resumed regular briefings at the White House, where he acknowledged last week that the pandemic will get worse before it improves, and on July 11, he wore a mask in public for the first time, three months after the Centers for Disease Control began recommending face coverings.
In a statement to the Post, a White House spokeswoman defended Trump's "historic, whole-of-America coronavirus response" and said his "message has been consistent and his strong leadership will continue as we safely reopen the economy."
Despite those overtures, however, Trump continues to spread misinformation about the virus and has not yet taken responsibility for months of discrediting mask-wearing as a sign of disrespect towards him, pressuring states to re-open their economies, and downplaying the severity of the pandemic.
Read more: An antibody treatment might be our best shot at stopping the coronavirus if a vaccine doesn't work out. Here are the 9 leading programs, including 2 that are aiming to be ready this fall.
In a July 19 interview with "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, Trump continued to falsely claim that the current surge in COVID-19 cases is driven by a rise in testing and that 99% of cases are harmless. He also insisted that the virus will still "disappear," said many new cases are from people who just have "the sniffles," and misleadingly claimed that the United States has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.
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