Trump Asserts COVID-19 is ‘Receding’ Across the Country

President Donald Trump is touting what he says is “evidence of significant” progress in the effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“We’re beginning to see evidence of significant progress,” Trump said during a press conference on Monday.

He shared some positive statistics from around the country, “Nationwide, the number of positive cases has declined by nearly 6% from the week before. And the positive test rate has also dropped from 8.7% to 8% over that same period of time. An encouraging, very encouraging sign I have to add, that the virus is receding.”

“In hotspots across the south and west, we’ve seen slow improvements from their recent weekly peaks. Arizona’s weekly case counts have dropped 37% — that’s a tremendous drop, and the governor and the state have done a fantastic job down 37%. Texas is down 18.7%. I was there a couple of days ago. And Florida, 21.2% drop. So that’s a tremendous job that they’re all doing.”

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While Trump touted the recent declines in new weekly cases in Arizona, Texas, and Florida, he said the government has to focus on “new flare-ups” in states like Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Missouri. However, he predicted that those states will get those outbreaks under control quickly.

Additionally, he touted that 18 states around the country have test positivity rates under 5%.

Still, he urged Americans all around to the continue to be vigilant “in order to prevent the new hotspots from opening up, or any new hotspots from opening up in those states.”

Trump went on to encourage Americans to wash their hands regularly, socially distance, and wear a mask when they cannot be socially distant.

And he argued that further lockdown measures would not be helpful in preventing the spread of the virus, “It’s important for all Americans to recognize that a permanent lockdown is not a viable path forward … producing the result that you want.”

“Certainly not a viable path forward and would ultimately inflict more harm than it would prevent,” Trump said.

While Trump argued against prolonged lockdown measures, Dr. 👤Anthony Fauci said that states experiencing a surge in new coronavirus cases may need to reinstate lockdown measures. He also stressed the need to get the virus under control before the flu season begins.

Trump’s comments come weeks after Texas, Florida, and Arizona helped fueled a record-setting rise in daily new coronavirus cases. On July 16, the country reported 77,000 new cases.

The U.S. added 1.87 million new coronavirus cases in July. Additionally, the U.S. hit a new grim milestone as the number of coronavirus deaths passed 150,000 in July.  

By August 2, it appeared that the outbreak had stabilized in Arizona, Texas, and Florida.

Still, public health experts urged Americans to remain vigilant and to follow social distancing guidelines and wear a mask to help slow the spread of the virus. 

The latest data shows that there are almost 4.7 million coronavirus cases in the U.S and over 155,000 deaths.