Leaked: Trump coronavirus task force report reveals cases still spiking in rural US areas
Stark increases seen mainly in Republican majority areas
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Your support makes all the difference.Coronavirus infections are spiking in many rural parts of the US despite Donald Trump's insistence the country's infection rate is falling, according to an undisclosed taskforce report obtained by NBC News.
The report from 7 May shows a 72.4 per cent or above surge in cases in 10 areas over a seven-day period compared to the previous week.
These areas include Nashville, Tennessee; Des Moines, Iowa; Amarillo, Texas; and Central City, Kentucky, according to the report.
Central City shows the highest increase in the set of tables produced by the task forces data and analytics unit, with a surge of 650 per cent.
The undisclosed data seemingly contradicts the president's public insistence that cases across the country are continuing to fall and the outbreaks are largely under control.
“You know, the numbers are coming down very rapidly all throughout the country, by the way,” Mr Trump said at a press conference on Monday.
“There may be one exception, but all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly.”
Stark increases could also be seen in the documents in the “locations to watch” graph with Charlotte and Kansas City representing increases of more than 200 per cent over the previous week.
Other areas on the locations to watch list included Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Montgomery, Alabama; Columbus, Ohio; and Phoenix, Arizona.
The increase in new cases in these areas suggests that the pandemic is continuing to spread outside of the country's major hotspots.
The president has continually insisted that the US infection rate is widely under control "almost everywhere."
“Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere,” he tweeted Tuesday.
Governors across the US have begun relaxing stay-at-home restrictions in line with the president's re-opening guidelines. Alabama, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee currently do not have stay-at-home orders, according to the report.
More than 80,000 people have died across the country from the disease, with over 1,370,000 cases of the virus recorded in the country, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University.
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