The theme of Friday's coronavirus task force briefing, the first one held in nearly two months, was that things are different in the United States than they were two months ago.
Vice President Mike Pence said all 50 states are currently in the process of reopening, but there are fresh concerns over rising cases in certain areas of the South. Task Force Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx and the vice president plan to travel next week to parts of Florida, Texas, and Arizona that are currently experiencing an uptick in coronavirus cases.
Despite the uptick in cases, the vice president said the number of deaths attributed to the coronavirus continues to decrease. At the peak of the pandemic, 15 percent of virus patients required hospitalization, whereas only 5 percent of cases require hospitalization today, according to the vice president.
"We are in a much stronger place. The truth is we did slow the spread, we flattened the curve. We were able to stand up the resources and the capacities in our health care system to be able to meet this coronavirus in a way that would put the health of all of our country first," Pence said.
Dr. Birx reiterated that people most at risk from the coronavirus are those over the age of 80 and those with certain comorbidities. To prevent the spread of the virus, Dr. Birx called on people under the age of 40 to get tested as they may be unknowingly spreading the virus to others. Half of all new cases are in people under the age of 35.
In the past weeks, young people have gathered in protests throughout the country, with many failing to wear face masks and practice social distancing. Dr. Birx confirmed that riots have disrupted testing efforts in certain parts of the country.
With new concerns over an uptick in cases, young protesters unknowingly spreading the disease to others, and riots disrupting critical testing efforts, the liberal media's first questions were about Trump's Tulsa rally.
The briefing wrapped shortly after.