Former President Donald Trump blasted his successor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, after President Biden this week said the response is up to states.
Mr. Trump noted the country’s record high for COVID-19 infections that have come amid the busy holiday season and the rise of the highly contagious omicron variant.
“The United States just set a record high for coronavirus infections. Remember when Biden said that he would quickly and easily solve this problem? How’s he doing? He now says that it is up to the states, not the Federal Government, exactly the opposite of what he said during the campaign!,” Mr. Trump said in a statement.
The former president’s comments come after Mr. Biden said there is “no federal solution” to mitigating the pandemic.
“There is no federal solution. This gets solved at the state level,” Mr. Biden said on a conference call with state governors Monday.
While on the campaign trail, Mr. Biden vowed to “shut down the virus” if he won the White House.
The U.S. this week hit a seven-day average of 265,427 daily cases, soaring past the previous record of 252,000, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blamed the 60% rise in cases on the quickly spreading omicron variant.
“In a few short weeks, omicron has rapidly increased across the country, and we expect it will continue to circulate in the coming weeks,” Dr. Walensky said.
Hospitalizations, including of COVID-infected children, also have been on the rise.
Multiple states reported an increase of more than 50% in pediatric admissions related to the virus in December.
• Mica Soellner can be reached at msoellner@washingtontimes.com.
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