Donald Trump cuts WHO funding, insists his name be on relief checks, as US sees uptick in cases

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suspended American funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and ordered his name printed on the Treasury Department’s relief checks to be mailed to millions of Americans, even the United States saw an uptick in coronavirus fatalities on Tuesday, logging a single-day record of 2228 deaths after it had plateaued and fallen to around 1500 deaths the two previous days.
Raging at a White House briefing that "WHO pushed China’s misinformation about the virus," Trump said he is halting funding "while a review is conducted to assess the WHO’s role and severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus." The United States is WHO’s largest donor with a current contribution of about $ 450 million per year.
Trump’s move, while expected as he seeks to absolve himself for any blame over US handling of the situation, was condemned by domestic and international principals, from Democrat lawmakers to Bill Gates to UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres, who said now is not the time to reduce resources for WHO or any humanitarian body involved in the fight against the coronavirus. China and EU also condemned the move.
The blow to WHO came amid reports that Trump had insisted on his name being printed on stimulus checks of a minimum $ 1200 due to be mailed to Americans starting Wednesday.
Relief or refund checks from the Internal Revenue Service are typically signed by a non-partisan administration bureaucrat, but according to the Washington Post, which first reported the development citing unnamed officials, the President told his Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin that he wanted his signature on the checks. Because the President is not an authorized signatory, a via media arrived at will see Trump’s name in the memo line at the bottom left hand corner of the check.
Administration officials said the decision would not result in any delay, although it has already been nearly two weeks since the decision to provide relief to Americans. In any case, many Americans receive direct transfers into their bank account if they transact electronically with the IRS.
Trump meanwhile backed down from his claim that he had "total authority" over states in ordering a reopening of the country for business, saying he would work with governors while acknowledging that each state had different problems and requirements, and they should be free to approach the matter differently.
"I will be speaking to all 50 governors very shortly. And I will then be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening, very powerful reopening plan of their state in a time in a manner which is most appropriate," Trump said at his daily briefing, adding, "You can talk about constitution. You can talk about federalism. You can talk about whatever you want. But the best way… from a managerial standpoint…(is) to let individual governors run individual states and come to us if they have difficulty and we will help them."
Trump’s conciliatory remarks on the issue came even as Democratic states such as California and Washington that took early steps on quarantine and social distancing appeared to gained a measure of control on spread of virus, while more isolated Middle American states that were initially unaffected and adopted a lax attitude, are becoming new hot spots.
One such case is South Dakota, whose Republican governor refused to impose quarantine, criticized social distancing measures as "draconian," and sneered "South Dakota is not New York." The state now has nearly 1000 Covid-19 positive cases. At least five Middle American states run by Republican governors simple ignored federal suggestions of quarantine and social distancing, saying it infringed on individual freedom.
Coronavirus cases across the US crossed 600,000 on Wednesday, accounting for nearly a third of the global cases, and three times as many as the next worse affected country (Spain). Trump and many state governors though are eyeing a May 1 reopening of US businesses, with some states 20 less affected states being allowed to reopen even earlier.
However, the re-opening strategy will be underwritten by health campaign emphasizing continued mitigation measures such as social distancing and sanitizing that experts are saying will have to continue for several months and years, perhaps indefinitely. Some researchers say the coronavirus will almost certainly make a comeback in winter even if it ebbs in summer.