“We still have a couple of long months ahead of us,” one senior health official said. “Cases will continue to rise and deaths will follow. What we need is to get the message out to Americans to take this next wave just as seriously as they did the first. But I don’t see White House messaging changing.”…
Despite serious warnings from doctors and scientists about the skyrocketing cases, health officials are convinced that in the coming months the president will place less emphasis on saving Americans than on winning his election legal battles across the country. Officials say Americans will ultimately have to lean on local leaders rather than federal officials as the virus spreads this fall and winter. But without federal help—financing and distribution of medical supplies from the national strategic stockpile—states could face another round of shortages.
States across the country are already operating in emergency mode. This past week alone, more than 1.3 million Americans were infected with the coronavirus and more than 12,300 died as a result. North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin continue to see large spikes in infection, hospitalization, and death rates. And states such as Indiana, Arkansas, and Illinois are experiencing rapid community spread with the virus replicating rapidly and infecting thousands of people.
