White House privately warned states of Covid-19 ‘red zone’ threat, records show

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Mon, 2020-08-31 18:57 — mike kraft

White House privately warned states of Covid-19 ‘red zone’ threat, records show The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released eight weeks of previously confidential reports obtained from the White House coronavirus task force. Alice Miranda Ollstein POLITICO

Senior Trump administration officials in June privately warned seven states about dangerous coronavirus outbreaks that put them in the highest risk "red zone" while publicly dismissing concerns about a second wave of Covid-19, according to White House documents House Democrats released on Monday.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released eight weeks of previously confidential reports obtained from the White House coronavirus task force that Democrats said showed the administration acting over the summer to willfully cover up public health risks for political gain.

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,” Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the subcommittee’s chair, said in a statement. “As a result of the president’s failures, more than 58,000 additional Americans have died since the Task Force first started issuing private warnings, and many of the Task Force’s recommendations still have not been implemented.”

White House spokesperson Judd Deere accused the lawmakers of "irresponsibly" releasing the documents "for the purpose of falsely distorting the President’s record."

White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah said the administration began a public health messaging campaign in July to states with large outbreaks "to warn the public to follow mitigation practices to bring down the number of cases."

"The notion that we are trying to hide information from the public is absurd,” she said.

The documents released by the committee also reveal that several states have failed to implement public health recommendations the task force made more than two months ago — including mask mandates, closing bars and banning large gatherings — and that the administration has made little effort to enforce its guidance or make the same recommendations publicly. ...

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