Trump Hopes Virus Leveling-Off in Hot Spots; Advisers Take Tempered View

President 👤Donald Trump expressed hope on Sunday that the United States was seeing a “leveling-off” of the coronavirus crisis in some of the nation’s hot spots, but some of his top medical advisers took a more tempered view.

New York, the hardest-hit state, reported on Sunday that for the first time in a week, deaths had fallen slightly from the day before, but there were still nearly 600 new fatalities and more than 7,300 new cases.

“Maybe that’s a good sign,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing, referring to the drop in fatalities in New York.

While Trump cited those numbers as an indication that Americans were starting to see “light at the end of the tunnel”,

Anthony Fauci, a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, said it took weeks for efforts like social-distancing and stay-at-home orders to slow the virus’ spread.

Asked whether his and other experts’ grim projections of a rising death toll was at odds with Trump, he did not directly contradict the president, who has been accused by critics of often taking a more positive view than justified by the facts.

“What you’re hearing about potential light at the end of the tunnel doesn’t take away from the fact that tomorrow, the next day, are going to look really bad,” Fauci told reporters.

The United States faces a critical week in the coronavirus crisis, with the U.S. surgeon general warning on Sunday: “This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly.”.

But a few governors still resisted issuing stay-at-home orders and a handful of churches held large Palm Sunday services.

Most states have ordered residents to stay home except for essential trips to slow the spread of the virus in the United States where over 335,000 people have tested positive and over 9,500 have died, according to a Reuters tally.