Mayor Bill de Blasio blasted President Donald Trump again for his handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic this time about reports that the White House is considering disbanding the Coronavirus Task Force by Memorial Day on May 25.
“It sure as hell does seem kind of early,” said de Blasio on Wednesday during his daily press conference in response to an ABC News report about the task force’s imminent demise. “I do not understand what he is thinking.”
Although the novel coronavirus pandemic is becoming easier to manage in New York City, the mayor said, the city and country are not “out of the woods” yet.
In mid-April, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield warned that a second wave of the novel coronavirus, in combination with a possible flu epidemic, this winter could be more devastating than what the world has experienced during the first half of 2020.
“That fear of the boomerang is something that everyone should be having on their minds right now,” said de Blasio.
On May 5, Vice President Mike Pence told White House reporters that the president was in “preliminary discussion” of phasing out the coronavirus task force.
The next day, however, the president backtracked on this claim tweeting that task force would “continue on indefinitely” and that he may “add or subtract people.”
“Until this disease is fought back down to the point where we have reached low-level transmission where there are so few cases you can trace every single one and all their contacts, no one should breathe easy,” de Blasio added.
This story first appeared on amny.com.
