As America leads world in pandemic death toll, Trump announces U.S. withdrawal from World Health Organization
President Donald Trump on Friday said he is terminating the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization, making good on his April threat to withdraw from the U.N. health agency he’s repeatedly blamed for mishandling the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and directing those funds to worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs,” Trump said in a brief statement from the White House Rose Garden.
The move was quickly panned by health experts, who claimed it would set back global efforts to defeat a novel virus that’s already killed more than 360,000 people and sickened nearly 6 million. But severing ties with WHO has been cheered by Trump’s base, which is distrustful of international bodies.[Continue reading…]
On Monday, WHO Executive Director Dr. Michael Ryan, warned of a “second peak” of COVID-19 cases in areas where the virus is declining. Dr. Ryan said, “We cannot make assumptions that just because the disease is on the way down now that it’s going to keep going down.”