Mike Pence Claims There is ‘No Second Wave’ in New Op-Ed Rejecting Media Coverage of Coronavirus
Vice President Mike Pence claimed there is not going to be a second wave of the coronavirus outbreak in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, during which he rejected the media’s coverage of the pandemic and claimed they’ve “tried to scare the American people every step of the way.”
Pence praised President Donald Trump for his successful leadership during the pandemic, noting that the United States has ramped up testing since March and increased the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) in hospitals.
The vice president also commended U.S. citizens for their strength amid the outbreak and their ability to adhere to social distancing guidelines before he went after the media’s “fear-mongering” throughout the pandemic.
“The media has tried to scare the American people every step of the way, and these grim predictions of a second wave are no different,” he said. “The truth is, whatever the media says, our whole-of-America approach has been a success. We’ve slowed the spread, we’ve cared for the most vulnerable, we’ve saved lives, and we’ve created a solid foundation for whatever challenges we may face in the future”
While some health experts have argued against the idea that the U.S. is facing a second wave, they’ve instead implied that the country never actually got past the first wave of the outbreak.
“A second wave implies that the first wave has disappeared and reappeared,” Loren Lipworth, an epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has noted. “I don’t think that is what we’re seeing here in the U.S.”
In an interview with NPR, Dr. Anthony Fauci also expressed concern over recent coronavirus spikes, which he guessed were due to failure to wear masks and lack of social distancing. There are still at least two million Covid-19 cases in the U.S., while more than 116,200 people have died from the virus and infections are rising in 21 states.
“That clearly is increasing the risk and likely explaining some of the upticks that you’re seeing,” he added, also noting he has not spoken to the president about the coronavirus in the past two weeks.
