The governors of the United States have been criticizing the Trump administration of handling the COVID-19 pandemic, as the New York Times reported.
These governors used to have a good relationship with the White House, but during the pandemic, they expressed harsh reactions to the administration’s insistence on deferring to local governments rather than offering strong national policies to contain the virus at a time when outbreaks are escalating in a number of states.
Vice President Mike Pence strongly defended the approach on the CBS show “Face the Nation,” while attributing the rise in cases to increased testing and irresponsible behavior by young people.
“One of the elements of the genius of America is the principle of federalism, of state and local control,” Mr. Pence said. “We’ve made it clear that we want to defer to governors. We want to defer to local officials and people should listen to them.”
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo characterized that approach as negligent on the NBC program “Meet the Press.” “They’re basically in denial about the problem,” he said. “They don’t want to tell the American people the truth. And they don’t want to have any federal response, except supporting the states.”
Mr. Cuomo said that New York, once a global epicenter, had reported five deaths on Sunday, the lowest number since the start of the pandemic. But he said that he was afraid that travelers from states with higher infection rates could reverse his state’s hard-won gains.
Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington expressed frustration at the president’s unwillingness to wear masks or to do more to encourage his supporters to wear them. “Instead of tweeting the other day about the importance of masks, he tweeted about monuments,” he said on “Face the Nation.” “We need a president who will care more about living Americans and less about dead confederates.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that she supported a federal mandate that all Americans must wear masks. “Definitely long overdue for that,” Ms. Pelosi, Democrat of California, said on ABC’s “This Week.” She urged Mr. Trump to start wearing one in public, saying: “Real men wear masks. Be an example to the country.”
The health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II, noted on “Meet the Press” that Mr. Pence had donned a mask for a public appearance on Friday, “even though he doesn’t need to in the sense that everybody around him is tested, he’s in a bubble.”
President Trump and those around him “are tested constantly,” he said, reiterating that the government recommends that people wear face coverings if they cannot practice social distancing.
The United States has reported 2,637,077 coronavirus cases while the death toll rises to 128,437 till today, which is in the First position of an infected nation in world rank.
Source: (NY times)
