White House looking to wind down coronavirus task force as US death toll passes 70,000

Mike Pence has said the White House is looking to wind down its coronavirus task force
REUTERS

The White House is looking to wind down its coronavirus task force in a move to shift management of the US’s response to the pandemic, Vice President Mike Pence has said.

Mr Pence said President Donald Trump was starting to look at Memorial Day on May 25 as the time to move the coordination responsibilities on to federal agencies.

Mr Trump placed Mr Pence in charge of the task force, which has been meeting almost daily since it was formed in March following the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.

The virus has killed more than 70,000 Americans so far. The US death toll is the highest in the world.

Conversations are taking place about "what the proper time is for the task force to complete its work and for the ongoing efforts to take place on an agency-by-agency level," Mr Pence said.

“We've already begun to talk about a transition plan with FEMA," he said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency that has played a lead role in distributing urgently needed supplies across the country.

The White House task force has been less visible in recent days as Mr Trump turned his attention to efforts to reopen the US economy. It did not meet on Monday or Saturday.

Democratic politicians and some Republicans have criticised Mr Trump for playing down the threat and now encouraging states to start to re-open economies that were shut down to try to curb the virus’s spread.

Mr Pence said on Tuesday the trend lines for infections in the United States are on a positive course and that the country "could be in a very different place by late May or early June."

The University of Washington's influential Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation on Monday doubled its previous forecast for Covid-19 deaths in the US.

It now predicts the number could reach about 135,000 by early August as social-distancing measures are relaxed.

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