THE “NEW” PATH FORWARD—According to the White House.

UPDATED 2:15 PM EST, MAY 6 — Trump changed his mind about phasing out the Coronavirus Task Force…because “I thought we could wind it down sooner. But I had no idea how popular the task force is until actually yesterday when I started talking about winding down.”

1. What do you do in the face of “growing evidence that the pandemic is still raging,” with pandemic deaths at a near all time high and rising—along with new cases?

ADMINISTRATION TO PHASE OUT CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE – The New York Times.

Trump gives up on virus fight to focus on economic recovery – and re-election – The Guardian.

“I think you won’t be seeing much from the scientists any more – the news is that bad – and they’re just going to turn a blind eye to the fact that what they’re doing is going to kill more people, because ultimately the way the president makes decisions is what’s good for his re-election.” – Joe Lockhart, former White House press secretary.

2. We’re reopening the economy right now, so things must be getting better. Right?

First, things aren’t getting better. With New Hot Spots Emerging, No Sign of a Respite

I suppose if you keep moving the death toll goalpost further and further back, things look better? Not really, but that’s the current strategy, if you can call that one. Trump’s sudden upward revision of the coronavirus death toll is still baselessly optimistic

“They may end up making the situation so bad with a second wave in the summer and a third wave in the fall that we end up with a much worse set of economic challenges than if we’d taken our bitter medicine and stayed shut down until we were through the early part of this crisis.” – Rick Wilson, former GOP strategist.

3. This was never rural America’s problem. One size doesn’t fit all. Time to open up.

COVID-19 in Rural America – Is There Cause for Concern?

Georgia’s Experiment in Human Sacrifice: The state is about to find out how many people need to lose their lives to shore up the economy.

“Georgia’s health infrastructure makes Kemp’s choice particularly dangerous. Girtz worries about the state’s hospitals. His county has two, but because of rural hospital closures, he says they’re expected to provide services not just for residents of Athens-Clarke County, but for the entire 17-county region around them, home to some 700,000 people.” 

“In Georgia, one of the country’s worst outbreaks has struck the rural, poor city of Albany, whose population is more than 70 percent black. In addition to the lack of Medicaid expansion, high incidences of medical problems such as hypertension and diabetes in the southeastern United States could make the coronavirus, which seems to prey on people with preexisting health issues, particularly deadly there.”