作为新型肺炎总统，加强对国家的控制唐纳德·特朗普坚持认为美国人已经准备好渡过危机——这一信息几乎完全与他自己的高层意见相左健康顾问们继续警告未来最艰难的几个月。
这种支离破碎的信息引发了人们的猜测，即如果特朗普连任，他将考虑清除联邦机构中领导国家应对病毒的政治任命，支持与他持相同世界观的忠诚者。
“我们在扭转疫情方面做得很好，”特朗普周五再次宣布，他在去年4月和7月发表了评论，尽管死亡率有所上升。他后来补充说，如果没有疫苗，这个角落会变圆。
“你知道，没有它，我们仍然在拐弯，”他告诉密歇根州的一群人。“我们有(疫苗)。但如果没有它，我们会转危为安。”
就在几天前，特朗普任命的负责协调COVID测试的布雷特·吉罗上将(Brett Giroir)和白宫冠状病毒特别工作组的成员说了一些完全不同的话。
“我只想对听众说实话，在我们得到疫苗之前，我们不会完全击败病毒，而且疫苗会分发给美国人民，”吉尔洛在新闻发布会上告诉记者。"我们通过接种疫苗以适当的方式增强群体免疫力."
当被问及特朗普是否考虑在下一届任期内更换他的任命者时，白宫副新闻秘书布莱恩·摩根斯坦(Brian Morgenstern)只会说，特朗普和工作队从一开始就一直在合作结束这场流行病。
“他们的行动确保了我们的国家将战胜病毒，并安全地重新开放，”他说。
曼德尔·颜/法新社通过盖蒂图像，文件
在这张拍摄于2020年5月15日的档案照片中，唐纳德·特朗普总统与白宫冠状病毒工作队应对协调员黛博拉·比克斯(Deborah Birx)和国家过敏和传染病研究所所长安东尼·福奇(Anthony Fauci)在白宫玫瑰园就疫苗开发发表讲话。
随着特朗普凝视着未来四年在白宫的前景，总统显然准备好了在数月的病毒拖累经济和恐吓选民后进行重新设定。当他谈到正在传播的病毒时，几乎完全是以政治术语为基础的——坚持民主党人乔·拜登将关闭这个国家并摧毁经济，同时嘲笑戴口罩的人是“政治正确的”。
尽管他的高级顾问传达了一个完全不同的信息——这个国家正处于危险的临界点，面具和社交距离是最好的选择——但问题是特朗普在选举后将如何处理他自己的冠状病毒联邦特别工作组，尤其是如果他连任的话。
负责协调该工作队的黛博拉·比克斯(Deborah Birx)博士不再在白宫向公众介绍情况，而是几乎完全在路上做她的工作，参观州政府大楼并会见当地卫生官员。疾病控制和预防中心主任兼卫生部长罗伯特·雷德菲尔德博士Alex Azar工作小组的两名成员上周在亚特兰大疾控中心总部举行了一次罕见的新闻发布会，敲响了警钟。
“大流行还没有结束，”雷德菲尔德宣称。
引用几个政府消息来源，华盛顿邮报据报告的周五，雷德菲尔德预计将在选举后不久离开或被要求辞职，无论结果如何。美国广播公司新闻无法立即证实该报道。
在对美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中，雷德菲尔德赞扬了该机构的工作人员，并补充说，“我将尽我所能支持他们，因为我坚持我的承诺，以数据、科学和公共服务为基础领导该机构。”
另一个悬而未决的问题是美国食品和药物管理局局长斯蒂芬·哈恩的命运，他将决定疫苗何时准备好供公众消费。据报道，本月他激怒了白宫坚持强硬的新方针以确保他们的疫苗是安全的。白宫放弃了他们的反对意见。
特朗普本月早些时候在哈恩发推特，称他的监管决定是“政治上的打击”。
“美国食品和药物管理局的新规定使得他们更难在选举日之前加快疫苗审批。又是一个政治热门!@SteveFDA，”特朗普在推特上写道。
哈恩从未直接回应总统，但继续为自己的工作辩护。
“我们不会匆忙完成如此重要的事情。我们的产品质量、安全和功效标准不会有捷径，”哈恩本周在推特上写道。
特朗普经常依赖斯坦福胡佛研究所放射科医生斯科特·阿特拉斯的建议。地图集这一想法的倡导者允许病毒在健康人群中迅速传播，同时保护更多的弱势群体——美国顶级公共卫生专家表示，这一想法几乎是不可能的，并将导致不可接受的死亡人数。
美国顶尖传染病专家、国家过敏和传染病研究所所长安东尼·福奇(Anthony Fauci)博士多次驳斥了试图在没有疫苗的情况下接受“群体免疫”的想法，认为这是“胡说八道”。
他本周警告说，除非该国更加认真地对待这种病毒，否则到2月份，该国可能每天会有10万例病例，50万人死亡。
曼德尔·颜/法新社通过盖蒂图像
2020年4月8日，在白宫布雷迪简报室，国家过敏和传染病研究所主任安东尼·福西、白宫冠状病毒工作队反应协调员黛博拉·比克斯和疾控中心主任罗伯特·雷德菲尔德出席了关于新冠肺炎的每日简报。
作为一名在多个政府部门任职的职业员工，福奇不能被特朗普轻易推出。
“作为一个国家，我们必须共同努力。我们必须站在同一战线上;我们必须齐心协力为此做点什么，”他在本周接受《滚石》编辑杰夫·古德勒采访时说。
在美国的数字严峻之际，观点出现了分歧。有43个州和地区的病例呈上升趋势，而全国四分之一的医院报告说，重症监护室80%的床位已满。
关于死亡——同一天小唐纳德·特朗普声称死亡人数下降到“几乎为零”——1049名美国人因新冠肺炎并发症而死亡。
跟踪疫情的公共卫生官员表示，截至周五下午，死亡总人数至少为229，293人，可能没有得到充分计算，因为可能的病例没有报告，人们也没有得到诊断。
根据疾控中心的数据，与前几年的死亡率相比，美国今年的超额死亡人数超过了29.9万。
President Trump's split with health advisers on coronavirus fuels speculation of shake-up
As thenovel coronavirustightens its grip on the nation, PresidentDonald Trumpis insisting that Americans are ready to move past the crisis -- a message almost entirely at odds with his own tophealthadvisers, who continue to warn the toughest months lie ahead.
The fractured messaging has invited speculation that if Trump is reelected he would consider purging political appointees at the federal agencies leading the nation's response to the virus in favor of loyalists who share his worldview.
"We're doing very well with respect to making the turn on the pandemic," Trump declared again on Friday, comments he made last April and again in July, even as death rates have climbed. He later added that the corner would be rounded without the vaccine.
"You know, without it, we're still rounding the corner," he told a crowd in Michigan. "We have [a vaccine]. But without it, we'll round the corner."
Just days earlier, Adm. Brett Giroir, Trump's appointee to coordinate COVID testing and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said something entirely different.
"I just want to be straight with the listeners that we are not going to completely defeat the virus until we get a vaccine, and that vaccine is distributed to the American people," Giroir told reporters on a press call. "And we build up herd immunity in the appropriate way by getting a vaccine."
When asked if Trump is considering shaking up his appointees in another term, White House deputy press secretary Brian Morgenstern would only say that Trump and the task force have been working together to end the pandemic since the beginning.
"Their actions have ensured that our country will defeat the virus and safely reopen," he said.
In this file photo taken on May 15, 2020, President Donald Trump, with Response coordinator for White House Coronavirus Task Force Deborah Birx and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, speaks on vaccine development in the Rose Garden of the White House.
As Trump stares down a potential four more years in the White House, the president is clearly ready for a reset after months of the virus dragging down the economy and frightening voters. When he speaks about the virus on the trail, it's almost entirely on political terms -- insisting Democrat Joe Biden would shutter the country and destroy the economy while teasing mask wearers as "politically correct."
While his top advisers deliver an entirely different message -- that the country is at a dangerous tipping point and that masks and social distancing are the best available option -- the question then becomes what Trump will do with his own federal task force on coronavirus after the election, especially if he is reelected.
Dr. Deborah Birx, who is in charge of coordinating the task force, no longer briefs the public from the White House and has instead been doing her job almost entirely from the road, visiting state houses and meeting with local health officials. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Health SecretaryAlex Azar, both members of the task force, held a rare press conference at CDC headquarters in Atlanta last week to sound the alarms.
"The pandemic is not over," Redfield declared.
Citing several administration sources, The Washington Postreportedon Friday that Redfield is expected to leave or be asked to resign shortly after the election, no matter the result. ABC News could not immediately confirm the report.
In a statement to ABC News, Redfield praised the agency workforce, adding, "I will do everything in my power to support them as I maintain my commitment to lead this agency grounded in data, science, and public service."
Another open question is the fate of Stephen Hahn, the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which will decide when a vaccine is ready for public consumption. He reportedly provoked the ire of the White House this month when heinsisted upon tough new guidancefor vaccine makers to ensure their vaccines are safe. The White House dropped their objection.
Trump tweeted at Hahn earlier this month, calling his regulatory decision a "political hit job."
"New FDA Rules make it more difficult for them to speed up vaccines for approval before Election Day. Just another political hit job! @SteveFDA," Trump tweeted.
Hahn never responded directly to the president, but continues to defend his work.
"We're not going to rush something that's so important to get right. There will be no shortcuts to our standards for product quality, safety, and efficacy," Hahn tweeted this week.
Trump has often relied on advisement from radiologist Scott Atlas from Stanford's Hoover Institute. Atlasadvocates for the ideaof allowing the virus to spread rapidly among healthy populations while shielding more vulnerable groups -- an idea that the nation's top public health experts say is nearly impossible and would result in unacceptable death tolls.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has repeatedly shot down the idea of trying to embrace "herd immunity" without a vaccine as "nonsense."
He warned this week the nation could be on track to hit 100,000 cases a day and half a million deaths by February unless the country takes the virus more seriously.
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, Response coordinator for White House Coronavirus Task Force Deborah Birx and CDC Director Robert R. Redfield attend the daily briefing on COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House, April 8, 2020.
As a career employee who has served across multiple administrations, Fauci could not be pushed out easily by Trump.
"We've got to work together as a country. We've all got to be on the same page; we've got to pull together to do something about this," he said in an interview this week with Rolling Stone editor Jeff Goodell.
The split viewpoints come as the numbers in the U.S. are grim. There are 43 states and territories on an upward trajectory with cases, while a quarter of the nation's hospitals report that 80% of beds in intensive care units are filled.
On deaths -- the same day Donald Trump Jr.claimeddeaths fell to "almost nothing" -- 1,049 Americans were counted as dead due to complications from COVID-19.
Public health officials tracking the epidemic say the total number of deaths -- at least 229,293 as of Friday afternoon -- is likely undercounted because likely cases aren't being reported and people are going undiagnosed.
According to the CDC, the U.S. experienced more than 299,000 excess deaths this year compared to mortality rate in prior years.
