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As U.S. President Donald Trump painted a positive picture of the coronavirus pandemic and urged states to reopen the nation's businesses and schools, data from the U.S. coronavirus task force White House released Monday show it was receiving increasingly dire reports about the spread of the pandemic in July and August.
The House Select Subcommittee on Coronavirus released eight-week state reports compiled by the White House task force on Monday.
The task force delivers these reports each week to the governors' offices of their respective states and has previously refused to make them publicly available or confirm the authenticity of any of the data reported.
There was some discussion on a call with the governors earlier this month, the audio of which was obtained by CNN, about making some of the data accessible to the public in real time, but that has yet to happen.
"Instead of being honest with the American people and creating a national plan to fix the problem, the President and his facilitators kept these alarming reports private while publicly downplaying the threat to millions of Americans," said Subcommittee Chairman James Clyburn , a Democrat from South Carolina, in a statement.
The most recent of the eight reports released by the subcommission is dated August 9.
Since then, the course of the pandemic has changed, improving in some places and getting worse in others.
The August 9, 459-page report has a section for each state, including extensive data on cases from the state down to the county level, as well as detailed private recommendations to state and local officials to curb the spread, including advocacy of social distancing and face coverings, implementing contact tracing and closing bars and nightclubs in "red zone" states.
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The "red zone" indicates that there are more than 100 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants and / or the positivity of the test is higher than 10%, as defined by the working group.
There were 20 states in the "red zone" as of August 9.
The "yellow zone" indicates between 10 and 100 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants and / or positive test between 5 and 10%, according to the definition of the working group.
There were 28 states plus the District of Columbia in the "yellow zone."
Only two states, Maine and Vermont, were in the green areas of case and test positivity.
On the same day the report was released, Trump claimed that coronavirus cases were increasing due to increased testing, which is refuted by many states in the report with increasing test positivity rates - that is, the proportion of people who test positive compared to those who test negative, which may indicate an incipient outbreak.
«Cases up due to BIG evidence!
Much of our country is doing very well.
Open schools! ”He tweeted, going on to advocate for schools to reopen at press conferences that week.
The more detailed data in the report shows how Trump has tried to generate good news and select positive data.
“If you look at some of the states that had an outbreak recently, they are all doing very well.
Florida is going down fast.
I want to give the governors a lot of credit.
Florida is going down, and Arizona is going down, way down.
They have done a fantastic job, ”Trump said during a briefing on August 12.
True, Florida and Arizona had seen a decrease in new cases and test positivity that week.
But both states were still experiencing significant spread and were in the "red zone" for positive cases and tests in the Aug. 9 report.
The report recommended measures in Florida such as "consider a statewide mask mandate for counties with 50 or more active cases", "ensure the transmission of messages to all citizens to limit social gatherings to 10 or fewer people even within families ”and“ expanding testing capacity in public health laboratories… to reduce response times ”.
“Many places are really in great shape, some with little or no problems.
Large chunks of America, "Trump said in that Aug. 12 briefing.
Only one of the earlier reports had been released, the July 14 report, which was obtained by the Center for Public Integrity of Journalism, a nonprofit organization.
That report showed 18 states in the "red zone" and called for reopenings to be reduced, including closing bars and gyms in many places.
The White House is criticizing the subcommittee's decision to publish the reports.
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"In the midst of an ongoing pandemic, some members of Congress have irresponsibly chosen to issue a partisan report entirely for the purpose of falsely distorting the President's record to protect the health and safety of the American people and save millions of lives," he said. Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere told CNN in a statement.
“The Coronavirus Task Force has been providing personalized recommendations to individual states for months encouraging local governors and health officials to act immediately, while at the same time President Trump and the entire administration have reminded Americans that Please follow CDC's best practices and recommendations to curb the spread as we work to reopen, ”added Deere.
CNN's Manu Raju contributed to this report.