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US Covid-19 cases cross 3 million mark, Donald Trump pushes school reopening
The United States is undergoing a renewed surge in cases specially in southern and westerns states, with Texas, Florida and California hit the hardest.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 infections on Wednesday crossed 3 million mark in the United Sates setting yet another grim record, as the President Donald Trump-led administration pushed the country towards reopening schools. The president has further threatened to “cut off” federal funds for reluctant and defiant states, without citing what funding he would cut off or under what authority.
The United States is undergoing a renewed surge in cases specially in southern and westerns states, with Texas, Florida and California hit the hardest. Amid this, citizens and health experts have voiced continuous concerns about the spread of the virus in confined and closes spaces such as schools and colleges.
The number of confirmed infections went up by a record single-day spike of 60,021 to 3,009,611 on Wednesday and the fatalities climbed by 1,195 to 131,594.
The president has focused on the lower number of fatalities compared to the past to push his reopening drive; he has sought to dismiss the spike in infections to increased testing, with questionable claims.
Trump backed his argument on Twitter and said that countries including Germany, Denmark and Norway have reopened schools “with no problems.” The Republican president also repeated his claim that Democrats want to keep schools closed for political reasons and not because of any risks associated with the coronavirus.
The Trump administration has pushed for a full reopening of the nation’s schools, with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos saying anything less would be a failure.
In another tweet he publicly disagreed with the reopening guidelines for schools put forward by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), calling them “tough and expensive”. The American president has disagreed with this own public health officials and disregarded their advise whenever he finds them incompatible with his plans.
Vice president Mike Pence, who heads the White House coronavirus task force, said at a news briefing later in the day the CDC will be issuing a five-part guideline for reopening of schools.
In the US, most schools are funded by the state and local property taxes, not federal funds. However, a large number of schools would seek federal funding to pay their teacher and meet other expenses because of depleted resources.
