During a rare Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence tried to suggest that the worst of covid-19 is behind the United States. As is custom in the Trump Administration, Pence must be living in an alternate reality from the rest of us. He congratulated Florida, Arizona, and Texas for beginning to flatten the curve, when the latest data actually shows that Florida set a single-day record for new covid-19 cases just days ago and Arizona has the highest percentage of positive tests in the nation. Arizona is also unable to administer covid-19 tests for everyone who needs one. He went on to say that Florida and Arizona are seeing fewer emergency room visits, but 56 of Florida’s hospital ICUs are at capacity with another 35 ICUs nearly full, leaving less than 20 percent of beds in the state open. Arizona has less than 150 ICU beds available statewide. Pence’s misinformation is part of the administration’s attempt to rush to reopen the country and specifically, the nation’s schools by the fall. What could possibly go wrong?
