According to a White House Coronavirus Task Force’s report, reportedly obtained by NBC News, COVID-19 numbers are surging in heartland states across the US, with some areas recording more than a 1,000% spike in just a week, based on data purported to have been published on 7 May. NBC News argued that these figures are at odds with Donald Trump’s Monday statement that the number of cases was sharply declining “all throughout the country”.
The document revealed that some cities in Tennessee, Iowa and Texas were still experiencing major surges in the number of infections recorded over a seven-day period, with Central City of Kentucky and Saint Joseph in Missouri registering a 650% spike, based on the reported CBSA summery.
The report was deemed “for official use only” and was not verified by the White House.
Unreleased White House report shows coronavirus rates spiking in heartland communities (by @jonallendc, @PhilMcCausland, and @cfarivar)https://t.co/xx3y688czN pic.twitter.com/dfRm1rKf4v
— Cyrus Farivar (@cfarivar) May 11, 2020
On 12 May, Donald Trump rowed back on his earlier claim, arguing that the numbers were declining in “most parts” of the United States, rather than throughout the whole country as he had argued during his Monday briefing.
Our Testing is the BEST in the World, by FAR! Numbers are coming down in most parts of our Country, which wants to open and get going again. It is happening, safely!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2020
The number of daily new cases has seemingly been declining across the United States overall, with only 18,000 new infections reported on 11 May, according to Worldometer data. The time needed for the epidemic to double in size has also now dramatically increased to 25 days, in comparison to two days in the start of the health crisis, according to recent comments by the former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, Scott Gottlieb. The states of New York and New Jersey currently top the list for the largest number of registered COVID-19 cases, accounting for more than 35% of recorded infections in the US.
