The governor of New York Andrew Cuomo and the governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer have both come under fire from the president for their responses to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, the Democratic governors are alleging that the United States has the worst response to the deadly virus as compared to any other nation in the world.
Furthermore, they attribute the nation's poor response to the coronavirus to Trump and the federal government's insincerity, political self-dealing, and incompetence. In a statement, they suggested that Trump ignored the suggestions from public health experts and career public servants, and placed the safety of Americans in the hands of political appointees, who are bent only on ensuring tha their benefactor gets re-elected, and this led to tragic results.
The United States has hit an estimated 200,000 deaths this week, with over 30,000 of those coming from New York and more than 7,000 from Michigan. The governors also pointed to reports last week that the White House scrapped plans in April to have the Postal Service deliver masks to every household in the country.
Moreover, they noted that the HHS (Health and Human Services) overruled the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) scientists and came up with what the governors describe as indefensible guidance that asymptomatic people were not required to get tested, The New York Times reported.
The country has the highest number of reported coronavirus cases worldwide, with over 6.94 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Aside from that, the U.S. also has the highest reported death toll, with more than 202,240 people succumbing to the deadly virus until now.
Both Cuomo and Whitmer have traded jabs with the president over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with the governors claiming that Trump puts his re-election bid ahead of public health. They also charge that the president jeopardized the health and safety of Americans by placing it in the hands of politicians rather than trusting public health experts' advice and guidance.
The governors also slammed a few health guidelines published by the federal government, including those related to airborne transmission of COVID-19, and others suggesting that people who do not show symptoms aren't required to get tested. They urged Congress to immediately conduct an oversight investigation into the administration's response to the pandemic.
This includes the actions at the USPS and the HHS, which surfaced over the past week, Cuomo and Whitmer said in their joint statement. Both governors have also been subject to strong criticism of how they handled the pandemic and a slew of other issues such as lockdowns and the handling of nursing homes in the initial stage of the crisis.