Donald Trump's chief of staff at the White House estimated on Sunday that the United States would "
not control the pandemic
" of Covid-19, which he again compared to the flu, after the announcement of contamination 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.
Read also: Attacked by Obama and Biden, Trump displays his confidence ten days before the election
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.
"
It was not a Meadows mistake
," Joe Biden said in a statement.
“
It was an honest observation of President Trump's strategy since the start of the crisis: to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that if we ignore it, the virus will go away.
It was not the case and it will not be
, ”he added.
"
It is unfortunately no surprise that the virus continues to run unchecked in the country, and even in the White House itself,
" added Joe Biden, while the vice president's chief of staff and at least two people from his team tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday.
An admission of helplessness for the Democrats, while the country has beaten, two days in a row, its record of daily Covid-19 infections (nearly 90,000 new cases detected on Saturday) and that 225,000 Americans have died from the virus.
Read also: Obama accuses Trump of having "completely messed up" his management of the pandemic
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 deaths 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 coronavirus crisis unit, has decided to maintain his campaign meetings, like Donald Trump who is increasing the number of 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
".
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