President Donald Trump speaks in a video posted on Twitter on December 31, 2020.
The White House | Twitter
WASHINGTON – In the final days of 2020 there has been a surge in coronavirus deaths in the US, cases surge to staggering levels, hospitals strained, and much-needed vaccine rollouts lagging behind expectations.
December was America’s deadliest month during the pandemic. But President Donald Trump hardly said a word about the tragic toll of Covid-19.
Instead, the president spent the month pondering unsubstantiated allegations of a stolen election, delaying relief laws before they were signed, weighing cable newscasts, and beating members of his own party.
And on Thursday, the last day of the month and year, Trump tweeted a video boasting about his administration’s response to the pandemic.
In December, the country plunged into the toughest battle against Covid-19, even as vaccines ran out. The nation reported more than 6.1 million new infections and more than 74,140 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The latest totals make December the deadliest month of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States, beating April when more than 60,738 Americans lost their lives to the coronavirus.
Since the coronavirus outbreak began, at least 342,414 Americans have died from the disease, which Trump has repeatedly pledged on 40 different occasions.
In a taped message released Thursday, Trump made the lion’s share of the loan for the unprecedented speed in the development of vaccines, which the stunt called a “medical miracle”.
“Thanks to Operation Warp Speed, we developed a vaccine in just nine months, we have already launched a nationwide vaccination program and we are sending the vaccine all over the world. The world will benefit, we will benefit, and everyone is calling for it . ” Thank you, “said the President.
Trump also took a moment to praise his work on the economy, saying that his administration “built the greatest economy in the history of the world”.
“We’re now doing numbers like no one has seen before, including the highest stock market in the history of the world,” Trump said, adding “the best is yet to come” in his deregistration.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tweets and golfing
Trump, who vacationed last week at his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, returned to the White House Thursday as lawmakers debated laws that would reduce Covid aid payments to $ 2,000 in the face of historic unemployment and business closings would increase.
The President himself pushed for these higher payments despite the fact that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold a stand-alone vote on the bill providing for the higher payments, which were passed with the support of both parties in the House of Representatives.
While in Palm Beach, Trump spent several days playing golf on his for-profit golf course, sending 110 tweets, mostly focusing on false claims of a rigged presidential election and the upcoming Georgia Senate runoff.
Trump, despite a series of failed legal challenges, did not concede the election as Democrat Joe Biden, which will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. The president also went on Twitter for support for an upcoming rally in Georgia.
President Donald Trump plays golf at Trump National Golf Club on November 21, 2020 in Sterling, Virginia.
Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images
The president’s refusal to address other aspects of the looming public health disaster comes because the governors of Colorado and California are confirming a new and potentially contagious strain of Covid-19 in their states.
Hospital fights and vaccine stumble
Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier Wednesday that the new tribe could put pressure on the country’s hospitals, which are already overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.
Coast-to-coast hospitals are already running out of available intensive care units and standard beds to accommodate the surge in patients, data from the Department of Health and Human Services shows.
Medical workers prepare to perform a percutaneous tracheostomy procedure on a patient in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during Thanksgiving Day on November 26, 2020 at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas.
Go Nakamura | Getty Images
Earlier this month, the United States began rolling out vaccines to fight the disease. But health officials have warned that a vaccine will not immediately rid the country of the outbreak.
The nation’s health officials previously stated their goal was to vaccinate at least 20 million Americans with their first shots before the end of the year. You will clearly miss this goal.
Continue reading: Trump blames states when criticized for slow adoption of Covid vaccines
As of Monday morning, more than 11.4 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna two-dose vaccines had been distributed across the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 2.1 million of these shots were given to humans.
Trump, who was criticized for missing the vaccine target, blamed the unorganized introduction of vaccines for the states.
“The federal government has distributed the vaccines to the federal states,” said the president in a tweet. “Now it is up to the states to manage. Move on!”
– CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger, Will Feuer and Noah Higgins-Dunn contributed to this report.
