"We are not going to control the pandemic," says Trump's chief of staff

Donald Trump's White House chief of staff said on Sunday that the United States was "not going to control the pandemic" of COVID-19, which he again compared to the flu, after the announcement of contaminations in the entourage of US Vice President Mike Pence. 

“This is what we're going to do. We are not going to control the pandemic, we are going to control the fact that we can have vaccines, treatments and other means to mitigate the disease, said Mark Meadows on CNN.

“Because it's a contagious virus just like the flu,” he added.

Kamala Harris, who is running for vice-presidency alongside Democratic White House candidate Joe Biden in the November 3 election, promptly accused the Trump administration of admitting defeat.

"They recognize their failure," she told reporters in Michigan in reaction to Mark Meadows' comments. "It is the biggest failure of any presidential administration in American history," she insisted.

President Trump is being criticized from all quarters for having from the beginning tended to downplay the severity of the coronavirus, sometimes compared to the seasonal flu. This assessment weighs heavily on his chances of re-election.

Himself infected in early October, hospitalized for three days, he has since been "cured" and "immune" thanks to experimental treatments and insists again that the pandemic will eventually disappear, while the number of additional daily cases has recorded in recent days new records.

The United States is the most bereaved country in the world with nearly 225,000 dead from COVID-19.

Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short also tested positive on Saturday, along with at least two other of his advisers. Many cases had already been reported to the White House at the time of Donald Trump's diagnosis.

But Mike Pence, who heads the crisis unit against the coronavirus, has decided to maintain his campaign meetings, like Donald Trump who is increasing the meetings bringing together large crowds with few masks and distancing.

Mike Pence "will wear a mask today," said Mark Meadows, although he rarely wears one in public.

Asked about the government's refusal to make the wearing of a mask compulsory, the White House chief of staff replied: "We live in a free society", accusing Joe Biden of wanting to "confine everything".  

Source : AFP