Coronavirus Live Updates: Moving to Deflect Blame, Trump Criticizes W.H.O.
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Trump, seeking to deflect blame, turns criticisms of his administration on the W.H.O.
Trump, seeking to deflect blame, turns criticisms of his administration on the W.H.O.
President Trump threatened to permanently cut off all funds to the World Health Organization Monday night, a dramatic escalation of his repeated attempts to deflect blame for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 90,000 people in the United States during the past several months.
In a late-night, four-page letter to the director general of the W.H.O., Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Mr. Trump accused the global health group of failing to act quickly and aggressively enough against the virus in its early days, in effect denouncing the organization for the very missteps and failures that have been leveled at him and his administration.
Public health experts have said the president’s public denials of the virus’s dangers slowed the American response, which included delayed testing and a failure to stockpile protective gear.
In the letter, the president said that the W.H.O. “belatedly declared the outbreak of a Public Health Emergency of International concern on January 30,” more than a month after the virus was first detected. But Mr. Trump did not declare a national emergency until weeks later, despite being aware of the virus and its dangers.
Mr. Trump’s letter also contained falsehoods and misleading statements. He wrote that the W.H.O. “consistently ignored credible reports of the virus spreading in Wuhan in early December 2019 or even earlier, including reports from the Lancet medical journal.”
But in a statement Tuesday morning, the Lancet pointed out that the journal “published no report in December, 2019, referring to a virus or outbreak in Wuhan or anywhere else in China.” The journal said its first reports about the virus were published on January 24, just four days before the W.H.O. declared an international emergency.
The president has railed against the W.H.O. for weeks as his own political and public health crisis at home has intensified, saying the group is in the thrall of China, where the virus originated. In the letter, he said the group was responsible for many deaths because it failed to challenge the version of events from Xi Jinping, the president of China, regarding the origin of the virus and its initial spread.
But that criticism from Mr. Trump was particularly ironic given his own very similar comments about China early in the pandemic, when he was trying to complete negotiations on a trade deal with the country. “The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Jan. 24. “It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”
Mr. Trump’s letter Monday night came after the first day of a W.H.O. meeting that was intended to chart a course forward in the pandemic fight.
On Tuesday, member states agreed to launch a probe into the global response to the pandemic. The resolution, which was sponsored by the European Union and supported by more than 100 countries, was adopted without objections.
The resolution calls for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” into the international response to virus, including by the W.H.O. Mr. Trump had been insisting that the health agency investigate the origins of the virus and whether it was created in a Chinese lab.
But that criticism from Mr. Trump was particularly ironic given his own very similar comments about China early in the pandemic, when he was trying to complete negotiations on a trade deal with the country. “The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Jan. 24. “It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”
Mr. Trump’s letter Monday night came after the first day of a W.H.O. meeting that was intended to chart a course forward in the pandemic fight.
On Tuesday, member states agreed to launch a probe into the global response to the pandemic. The resolution, which was sponsored by the European Union and supported by more than 100 countries, was adopted without objections.
The resolution calls for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” into the international response to virus, including by the W.H.O. Mr. Trump had been insisting that the health agency investigate the origins of the virus and whether it was created in a Chinese lab.
Scientists who have studied the genetics of the virus say that the overwhelming probability is that it leapt from animal to human in a nonlaboratory setting, as was the case with H.I.V., Ebola and SARS.
China did not object to the resolution, but Mr. Xi on Monday said any such inquiry should wait until the health crisis is brought under control. In a statement, the United States praised the resolution and claimed it included a mandate to investigate the origins of the virus, though the resolution language contained no such mention.
Addressing the assembly as the meeting neared its close, the leader of the W.H.O., Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “I will initiate an evaluation at the earliest appropriate moment. We welcome any initiative to strengthen global health security and to strengthen W.H.O. W.H.O. remains fully committed to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement.”
At the White House Tuesday, Mr. Trump said that the W.H.O. will “have to clean up their act, they have to do a better job. They have to be much more fair to other countries, including the United States or we’re not going to be involved with them and we’ll do it in a separate way.”
Sourch by: The New York Times.
Sourch by: The New York Times.
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