White House chief of staff Mark Meadows says 'we are not going to control the pandemic'

• The White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said on Sunday that the US would not "control" the coronavirus, in the face of rising infections across the country and more than 225,000 American deaths from the highly contagious disease COVID-19.
• "We are not going to control the pandemic," Meadows told CNN's Jake Tapper. "We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics, and other mitigation areas."
• Meadows made his comments after a week with some of the most new US coronavirus infections of the pandemic.

The White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, on Sunday said the US would not "control" the coronavirus, in the face of rising infections across the country and more than 225,000 American deaths from the highly contagious disease COVID-19.

Speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," Meadows pushed back against questions about the spread of the virus.

"We are not going to control the pandemic," he said. "We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics, and other mitigation areas."

When asked by Tapper why the country wouldn't contain the coronavirus, Meadows seemingly downplayed the virus' severity.

"Because it is a contagious virus just like the flu," he replied.

Tapper pressed Meadows further as to why the US couldn't contain the virus.

Meadows said the Trump administration was "making efforts to contain it."

"What we need to do is make sure that we have the proper mitigation factors, whether it's therapies or vaccines or treatments, to make sure that people don't die from this," he added.

US coronavirus cases have increased dramatically over the past week, especially in the Midwest. On Friday, the US set a one-day record for new coronavirus infections, with more than 85,000 people testing positive, according to The New York Times.

When grilled about why Vice President Mike Pence was campaigning across the country while at least four of his staff members had recently tested positive for the coronavirus, Meadows defended Pence by saying he was "essential personnel."