Vice President Mike Pence, on a swing of states with sharp rises in Covid-19 cases, has been changing his tone on the virus, declaring in Arizona and Florida that the country “will flatten the curve.”
In recent remarks, Pence has said the curve has already been flattened.
“We will slow the spread,” Pence said, alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Dr. Deborah Birx on Thursday. “We will flatten the curve. And we will save lives and we will bring Florida’s economy back bigger and better than ever before.”
He made a similar statement in Arizona on Wednesday.
As recently as two weeks ago, Pence said he was “proud to report” that “we slowed the spread. We flattened the curve. We cared for the most vulnerable, and we saved lives,” in remarks at a steel plant in Michigan. Even at the time, that was false. Case counts were on the increase or flat in most states, according to data provided by Johns Hopkins which tracks cases across the US.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Pence said the federal government is “considering” and will be “processing in very short order” a request for additional medical personnel to deal with coronavirus cases in Florida.
But Pence still stressed the need to “keep opening back up our economy,” even as cases surge nationwide.
“Even in these challenging times,” Pence said, “we’re continuing to see America’s economy coming back, Americans going back to work.” He also thanked the DeSantis for his “efforts to open up Florida again,” before touting jobs numbers.
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