The Trump administration warned states in private briefings that they were becoming COVID-19 hotspots while publicly striking a less alarmist tone, a Democrat-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis revealed.
Democrats have accused the administration of downplaying the severity of the outbreak, but Republicans have dismissed the claims as “another phony scandal.”
“The Task Force reports released today show the White House has known since June that coronavirus cases were surging across the country and many states were becoming dangerous ‘red zones’ where the virus was spreading fast,” said the chairman of the subcommittee, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), in a statement.
A “red zone” designation is where there are more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population and/or where more than 10 percent of new tests come in positive. Regions with between 10 and 100 new cases per 100,000 population and/or test positivity between 5 and 10 percent are defined by the task force as a “yellow zone.”
Clayburn accused the Trump administration of neglecting to provide “these alarming reports” to the public and therefore putting Americans at risk.
“Rather than being straight with the American people and creating a national plan to fix the problem, the President and his enablers kept these alarming reports private while publicly downplaying the threat to millions of Americans,” Clayburn added.
![President Donald Trump holds a COVID-19 and storm preparedness roundtable in Belleair, Fla., on July 31, 2020. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F08%2F03%2Fdonald-trump-1200x800.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
“The Coronavirus Task Force has been providing tailored recommendations to individual states for months encouraging Governors and local health officials to act immediately while at the same time President Trump and the entire administration has reminded Americans to follow CDC recommendations and best practices to slow the spread as we work to reopen,” Deere added.
The committee’s top-ranking Republican, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, denied the Trump administration was withholding data on the pandemic and dismissed Democrat claims as the “latest fake news.”
The White House has insisted that the pandemic response be led by states and while it has issued guidance on recommended precautions like wearing facial coverings, it has not imposed measures like nationwide mask-wearing mandates.