"Things are very different from two months ago... So it is a very different situation, but this is a very, very serious situation and the window is closing for us to take action and get this under control," Azar told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." He suggested that the US is better positioned to handled the pandemic than before, pointing to increased testing, contact tracing, hospital capacity, reserves of personal protective equipment, and advancement toward therapeutics and potential vaccines for the virus. The top health official's message differs from that of President Donald Trump, who seems ready to move on from the still-raging pandemic, and Vice President Mike Pence. At a Friday press briefing by the White House's coronavirus task force, the first in nearly two months, Pence declared that the US had "flattened the curve," painting a rosy picture at odds with reality.

Source: CNN June 28, 2020 15:56 UTC