Vice President Mike Pence defended the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic despite a recent uptick in new cases in several states across the country.
Pence noted on Sunday that cases are rising in states such as Florida, California, and Texas but said the fatality rate of the newfound cases has been lower than the fatality rate at the start of the health crisis. He told CBS's Face the Nation that the rise in cases is mostly driven by young people and has registered nationwide because of the increase in the availability of testing.
"I think it's inarguable that the historic increase in testing that we've accomplished in this country has played a role in the new cases, particularly among younger Americans. John, I want to remind your viewers that two months ago, in most states in this country, we were not testing people that had no symptoms or were below a certain age," he said.
"We were focusing on seniors. We were focusing on those with symptoms. But now, because of the public-private partnerships that President Trump initiated, we're literally able to test anyone in the country that would want a test, who comes forward," he added.
Host John Dickerson pressed Pence on Trump's remarks from his recent rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during which the president said that the country should slow down testing if citizens want to see the total number of new cases drop. The administration has maintained that Trump was being sarcastic, and Pence said that he believes the media twisted Trump's joke into an attack on the administration.
"The president was observing the fact that rising cases, which the media has focused exclusively on, has been, in part, a result of increased testing. What the media doesn’t focus on at all is, because of the sacrifices that the American people made in those 45 days to slow the spread and the good common-sense measures they continue to do, we’ve continued to see fatalities decline," the vice president said.
"I grieve for every American family that lost a loved one, for the more than 125,000 Americans that we’ve lost in this. We’re going to continue to take steps to protect the most vulnerable. And testing will be a critical part of that going forward," he continued.
Dickerson repeated his claim that Trump had "undermined confidence in testing," an accusation Pence denied.
"I just disagree that the president is undermining confidence in testing. He observed that the volume of new cases is, in part, a result of the rapid scaling of testing that we’ve done around the country," Pence said.
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June 28, 2020 at 11:42PM
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'We've continued to see fatalities decline': Pence defends White House coronavirus response as cases rise - Washington Examiner
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