White House literally praises Trump for 'ending the COVID-19 pandemic'

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on Tuesday released its list of Donald Trump’s first-term accomplishments, and leading the list is the bogus claim that Trump ended the COVID-19 pandemic.

“From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the administration has taken decisive actions to engage scientists and health professionals in academia, industry and government to understand, treat, and defeat the disease,” the news release says, under the subheadline, “ending the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Of course, the pandemic is far from over.

In fact, virus cases are once again trending upward, with an average of 71,092 new virus cases per day — an astronomical number that marks a 40% percent increase from just two weeks ago, according to the New York Times.

Midwestern and Mountain states are starting to see hospitalizations increase as the virus surges, with some hospitals at risk if overflowing — a phenomenon not seen since the early days of the pandemic, when the virus tore through the Northeast.

Meanwhile, hundreds more continue to die from the virus in the United States each day, with the death toll now over 225,000.

Trump has routinely ignored public health experts since the earliest stages of the pandemic.

First, he publicly downplayed the risks of the coronavirus despite being told that it was deadly and easily spread. In fact, Trump admitted in an interview with the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward that he knew the virus was deadly even as he was telling the public otherwise.

Trump also demanded that states begin reopening following lockdowns that were put in place to try to slow the virus’ spread — even though public health experts said cases were still too high and a full reopening would lead to the kind of skyrocketing spread the country is currently experiencing.

Trump has frequently refused to wear a mask and has decided against encouraging the country to do so, even though public health experts say mask-wearing is one of the best ways to slow the spread of the virus until a vaccine is widely available.

On top of all that, Trump has held rallies and events that have spread the virus — including a superspreader event to celebrate the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, which may have contributed to an outbreak at the White House that infected Trump himself.

Ultimately, despite the Trump administration’s claim that he’s ended the pandemic, public health experts are warning that the United States is in for a “dark winter” — as the government did not take steps to squash the virus before the weather turned cold, forcing people indoors, where the virus spreads quickly.

In the final days of the race, Trump has been loudly complaining about media coverage of the virus’ spread, claiming it should be illegal for the media to report on it.

That failure to contain the virus is dragging down Trump’s chances at reelection. Polls show him on pace to lose to Democratic nominee Joe Biden, as voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.