“It’s mind-boggling,” one official said of the White House’s assertion it had ended the pandemic. “There’s no world in which anyone can think that [statement] is true. Maybe the president. But I don’t see how even he can believe that. We have more than 70,000 new cases each day.”

Four officials working with the White House coronavirus task force told The Daily Beast that they viewed the White House’s statement as a personal slight and a public rebuke of their efforts to try and get control of the virus…

Officials in the administration tasked with responding to the virus say they are working overtime to try and get control of the rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across the country. One official said they are working 14-hour days to ensure communities and local officials in hot spots continue to implement strict mask and social distancing guidelines. Other officials said they are trying to ensure each state has what it needs to distribute a vaccine when the time comes. Another said they were “exasperated” with trying to manage the White House’s attitude toward the virus while also ensuring the rest of the administration shared the message that Americans need to continue to take steps to prevent community spread.