The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy claimed “ending the COVID-19 pandemic” and “understanding our planet” as two of the Trump administration’s first term accomplishments in a statement released Tuesday. The pandemic is far from over, with the seven-day average of daily new cases hitting a record 68,767 last week and some experts calling the recent rise in cases a third wave. “I look at it more as an elongated exacerbation of the original first wave,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday per NBC. “It’s kind of semantics. You want to call it the third wave or an extended first wave, no matter how you look at it, it’s not good news.” The second phrase, “understanding our planet,” seems to euphemistically refer to climate change and environmental science, a massive field that, like all bodies of scientific research, is a constant work in progress with no clear-cut end goal. In the statement, Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka says the supposed accomplishments “will guarantee the United States remains the world’s leader in research.”
