Health News at Your Fingertips

Trump asked Americans to wear masks “whether you like the mask or not”, despite repeatedly downplaying the importance of wearing masks and refusing to wear one on many occasions.

The president was first seen wearing a mask publicly earlier this month.

Fact check: Supplies

Trump talked about how supplies are up after “inheriting very empty cupboards” from the previous administration.

In fact, the Trump administration he inherited a stockpile of 19,000 ventilators stockpiled. His administration has not deployed all of them despite severe shortages when the pandemic first hit.

Donald Trump’s briefing has begun, and he’s started off using a racist term to describe the coronavirus.

We’ll be following along and fact-checking.

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Dr Anthony Fauci said he was not invited to Trump’s coronavirus briefing today. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, told CNN moments ago, “I was not invited up to this point. I’m assuming I’m not going to be there.” The president’s coronavirus briefing, his first since April, is scheduled to begin in a few minutes.
• Trump signed an executive order aimed at excluding undocumented persons from being counted in the 2020 census. The ACLU immediately said it would file a lawsuit against the administration over the order, which comes a year after the supreme court blocked Trump’s effort to add a citizenship question to the census.
• Joe Biden accused Trump of having “quit on this country” amid the coronavirus pandemic. Delivering a speech on his plan to expand access to early childcare, Biden said of Trump, “For all his bluster about his expertise on the economy, he’s unable to explain how he’ll actually help working families hit the hardest. … He’s quit on you. He’s quit on this country.”
• Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell outlined the broad strokes of the Republican coronavirus relief bill. McConnell said the legislation would include $105 billion for schools, which is well short of the $430 billion that Democrats have been pushing for. The bill will also allocate more money in small business loans and direct payments to American families, McConnell said.
• John Bolton said there is no justification for the deployment of DHS forces on the streets of Portland. Bolton told the Guardian in an interview, “The protection of federal courthouses now is the responsibility of the US Marshals Service. … I’m not saying everything’s hunky dory in Portland, Oregon, because it clearly is not. But I don’t see any justification for the deployment of the Department of Homeland Security personnel.”

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

In his CNN interview, Dr Anthony Fauci acknowledged the country needed to “do better” on ensuring access to coronavirus testing.

On the issue of reopening schools, the infectious disease expert said he understoof the importance of getting students back to the classroom, but he emphasized the safety of children and teachers needed to guide the policy on school reopenings.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper closed the interview by asking Fauci about his plans to throw out the first pitch at the Nationals game on Thursday, which will be played without any fans in attendance.

Fauci said the lack of fans will underscore the “stark difference” when sports in the middle of a pandemic. Fauci jokingly added of the ceremonial pitch, “I hope I don’t bounce it too much.”

Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said he had not been invited to Trump’s coronavirus briefing this afternoon.

“I was not invited up to this point. I’m assuming I’m not going to be there,” Fauci told CNN, noting the briefing will begin soon and he is still at the National Institutes of Health headquarters.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he had “a good long conversation” with Trump last week, but he has not spoken to the president today.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked earlier today whether members of the coronavirus task force would join Trump at his briefing. “You’ll have to tune in to see,” McEnany replied.

The absence of Fauci increases the likelihood that the briefing will center on Trump trying to downplay the country’s recent surge in coronavirus cases for his own benefit.

Fauci was also asked about Trump’s recent claim that he is an “alarmist” when it comes to the pandemic. “I consider myself more a realist than an alarmist,” Fauci said.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer expressed concern about Trump’s coronavirus briefings, which the president will officially resume in about an hour.

“President Trump can’t even model good behavior and consistently encourage Americans to wear a mask. Every time he takes the podium, he’s a threat to public health,” the Democratic leader said in a tweet.

“We are living through one the greatest failures of presidential leadership in our country’s history.”

Trump suspended his daily coronavirus briefings in April, after he was fiercely criticized for incorrectly claiming ingesting disinfectants could help protect Americans from contracting coronavirus.

The president also spent months resisted wearing a mask in public, despite mounting evidence that face coverings help mitigate the spread of the virus.

Trump was first seen publicly wearing a mask earlier this month, and he sent a tweet yesterday urging Americans to wear masks. However, the president was also seen attending a fundraiser last night without wearing a mask.

Senator Rand Paul lashed out against his Republican colleagues, as majority leader Mitch McConnell prepares to unveil a coronavirus relief bill expected to cost roughly $1 trillion.

“Just came from Progressive Democrat, whoops, [I] mean Republican caucus,” the libertarian senator said in a tweet.

“They’re going to spend $105b more on education, more than we spend every year on the Dept of Education. Anyone remember when Reagan conservatives were for eliminating the Federal Dept. of Education?”

However, the $105 billion for schools is well short of the $430 billion Democrats have proposed to help schools safely reopen.

Paul added, “The majority of Republicans are now no different than socialist Democrats when it comes to debt. They simply don’t care about debt and are preparing to add at least another trillion dollars in debt this month, combined with the trillions from earlier this summer.”

The Kentucky Republican voiced similar criticism of a coronavirus relief bill McConnell introduced in April, but Paul ultimately decided against blocking passage of the bill, which was signed into law.

Joe Biden promised to give a raise to childcare workers, who he said are “too often underpaid, unseen, and undervalued.”

The Democratic candidate noted 40% of childcare workers are still on SNAP or Medicaid, calling that figure “unacceptable.”

Biden also reflected on his own time as a single father, raising his two sons after his first wife and young daughter were killed in a car accident.

“We know so many of you are going through the same thing without the kind of help I had, but now everything, everything feels different,” Biden said. “There’s just that feeling, that sense, when you just don’t know if everything is going to turn out okay.”

Closing his speech, Biden urged Americans to not lose hope and to remain resilient in the face of this crisis.

“Let’s get the hell — heck up,” Biden said, correcting his language.

Joe Biden laid out his plan to expand access to preschool for working families, directly linking the need for affordable childcare to the country’s economic recovery.

“We’re trapped in a caregiving crisis within an economic crisis within a healthcare crisis,” the Democratic candidate said.

Biden pledged that, if elected, he would guarantee access to “free, high-quality preschool” for every three- and four-year-old child in the country.

The former vice president also promised that low- and middle-income families would not spend more than 7% of their income on care for children under the age of five.

Echoing his other recent speeches, Joe Biden sharply criticized Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Democratic candidate said the president “simply doesn’t understand” that the economy will not recover until the country gets the spread of coronavirus under control.

“For all his bluster about his expertise on the economy, he’s unable to explain how he’ll actually help working families hit the hardest,” Biden said. “He’s quit on you. He’s quit on this country.”

Joe Biden is describing the third plank of his “Build Back Better” plan to reinvigorate the US economy, which has severely suffered because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Democratic candidate said the plan was aimed at “easing the squeeze on working families” who are caring for young children and elderly loved ones.

“I know it’s hard to think of the future when you’re just trying to get through the crisis at hand,” Biden said, noting that many childcare facilities have been forced to close because of the pandemic.

“We’re in a childcare emergency, and it didn’t have to be this way,” Biden said.

Joe Biden is now delivering remarks in New Castle, Delaware, on how he will “build a robust 21st century caregiving and education workforce,” according to his campaign.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee has recently delivered a series of speeches on how he would help rebuild the US economy if elected.

Biden’s remarks come as Trump has pushed schools to reopen this fall despite concerns about the spread of coronavirus in the classroom once in-person instruction resumes.