Coronavirus US live: press secretary defends Trump over blocking Fauci's testimony

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Trump has reportedly suggested the US coronavirus death count is an exaggeration, even though experts have said the official tally is likely an undercount, considering some people died of the virus without being tested. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied the report at her briefing moments ago.
• McEnany defended Trump’s decision to block Dr Anthony Fauci from testifying before the House. The press secretary described the request from the Democratic-controlled House as a “publicity stunt,” even though Fauci will testify before the Senate next week.
• Trump said the White House coronavirus task force would “continue on indefinitely,” a reversal from his comments yesterday suggesting the group’s work would be winding down. The president said today he “had no idea how popular the task force is.”
• Nancy Pelosi criticized Trump for pushing to reopen the country, as health experts warn relaxing social distancing restrictions too soon could cause a surge in coronavirus cases. “Death is not an economic motivator, stimulus, so why are we going down that path?” Pelosi said.
• The Supreme Court declined to block Pennsylvania’s shutdown order. The justices, echoing an earlier decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, affirmed Democratic governor Tom Wolf’s right to shut down most non-essential businesses to limit the spread of the virus.
• Trump said Dr Rick Bright is a “disgruntled guy.” Bright has said he was removed from his role overseeing the development of a coronavirus vaccine after he refused to promote hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus treatment.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has defended Donald Trump’s decision to block Dr Anthony Fauci from testifying before the Democrat-led House. The president said he made the move to prevent officials taking questions from “a bunch of Trump haters.”

In the briefing McEnany accused the House of attempting to orchestrate a “publicity stunt” and said Fauci would instead testify before “the Republican-controlled Senate” where he will also “indeed be asked questions by Democrats.”

Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key member of the government’s coronavirus task force. He is expected to testify on 12 May.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany is holding a briefing, her second formal briefing since taking on the role.

Taking questions from reporters, the press secretary said the White House coronavirus task force was “here to stay,” but she dodged questions about which official first suggested winding down the group’s work.

McEnany also argued that the country needed to be “strategic with our testing,” specifically saying testing should be expanded in vulnerable communities like nursing homes and meat-packing plants.

But she added, “The notion that everybody needs to be tested is simply nonsensical.” Public health experts have said testing needs to be dramatically ramped up to safely reopen the country.

Trump said Dr Rick Bright, the vaccine expert who has said he was demoted for refusing to promote hydroxychloroquine as a potential coronavirus treatment, is a “disgruntled guy.”

“I never met him, I know nothing about him, but he’s a disgruntled guy,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office. “And I don’t think disgruntled people should be working for a certain administration.”

Bright filed a whistleblower complaint with the office of special counsel yesterday after he was removed from his post as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

Bright claimed he was ousted from his role helping to oversee the development of a coronavirus vaccine because he expressed doubts about the hydroxychloroquine.

He said he was moved to a smaller role after he “made clear that BARDA would only invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic in safe and scientifically vetted solutions and it would not succumb to the pressure of politics or cronyism.”

The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports on the latest from California:

California governor Gavin Newsom said the state and national economy are on the brink of “Depression-era” numbers that America will have to overcome on its long march toward recovery. How long it will take to rebound, nobody knows, Newsom said at his daily briefing.

“It will take longer than most people think,” Newsom said. “It’s Depression-era numbers. These numbers are jaw-dropping, and it’s alarming. I hope people are preparing themselves for the effort we all need to undertake to get back on our feet.”

Since March, a record 4.2 million Californians have applied for unemployment insurance. And many out-of-work employees are not yet fully reflected in state and national unemployment rates. As the economic impacts trickle down, local governments will face tough budget decisions.

California has already distributed $10.6 billion in aide to workers — $2 billion just since Sunday, Newsom said.

But some relief could be around the corner. Expected Thursday are clearer guidelines on which businesses will be allowed to open — and how they’re expected to operate — as the state enters phase 2 of its plan to reopen. The next phase will see florists, book stores, retailers reopen for curbside pick up. Reopening will be guided by data, Newsom said, and health and safety guidelines will continue to be a priority.

Meantime, Newsom reported 95 Californians died in the past 24 hours — numbers that have ticked up, even while hospitalizations and ICU admissions have improved modestly.

“I have all the confidence in the world we’ll recover and be a stronger, smarter society and a more resilient state. But it will take a while. The next few years, we’ll have to work through these challenges. But we have our work cut out for us,” Newsom said.

The Supreme Court has decided not to block Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf’s shutdown order after a group of businesses and a Republican state legislative candidate filed a lawsuit against the order.

The plaintiffs argued Wolf’s order, which shut down most non-essential businesses to limit the spread of coronavirus, was causing “unprecedented damage to the economy.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court previously rejected their request to block the order, and the US Supreme Court has now affirmed that decision. There were no noted dissents in the decision.

Trump pushed back against a nurse who said access to personal protective equipment had been “sporadic” during the coronavirus crisis.

Several nurses gathered in the Oval Office this afternoon to witness Trump signing a declaration in honor of National Nurses Day.

During the event, Sophia Thomas, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, “PPE has been sporadic, but it’s been manageable and we do what we have to do. We are nurses and we adapt.”

The president responded to Thomas’ uplifting message by saying, “Sporadic for you, but not sporadic for a lot of other people.”

It’s worth noting a report emerged today that administration officials privately raised concerns about ongoing shortages of masks, gowns and other medical gear, even as Trump pivots to focus on reopening the economy.

Trump and some of his advisers have reportedly suggested the country’s coronavirus death toll, which surpassed 70,000 yesterday, may be an exaggeration.

Axios reports:

A senior administration official said he expects the president to begin publicly questioning the death toll as it closes in on his predictions for the final death count and damages him politically. …

The official said Trump has vented that the numbers seem inflated and has brought up New York’s addition of more than 3,000 unconfirmed but suspected COVID-19 cases to its death toll.

Some members of the president’s team believe the government has created a distorting financial incentive for hospitals to identify coronavirus cases, the official also said.

At the risk of stating the obvious, there is no evidence that the death toll is an exaggeration. Experts have suggested the death toll actually represents an undercount because states have largely not counted those individuals who are suspected to have died of coronavirus but were never tested.