COVID-19 infections are still smashing records in the United States, and 130,000 Americans have died of the disease in just four months.
The Washington Post reports that President Donald Trump's campaign recognizes that the virus will not magically go away by November -- and is instead hoping to convince Americans they can simply "live with" the deadly disease spreading unchecked.
"White House officials also hope Americans will grow numb to the escalating death toll and learn to accept tens of thousands of new cases a day, according to three people familiar with the White House’s thinking," the paper reports. "Americans will 'live with the virus being a threat,' in the words of one of those people, a senior administration official."
One former administration official tells the Post that the campaign is betting "that people will get over it or if we stop highlighting it, the base will move on and the public will learn to accept 50,000 to 100,000 new cases a day."
Cases have continued to surge in the United States in recent weeks, even as many European countries that were initially hit hard by the virus have gotten it under control.
Italy, whose daily average infections peaked at more than 5,600 per day in late March, is now seeing under 500 new COVID-19 infections per day.
The United States, in contrast, has seen its new daily cases hit record highs, and it is now averaging more than 50,000 new cases a day.
