广泛的快速测试。挤满球迷的足球场。反弹的就业市场。
这些只是一些承诺和预测，总统唐纳德·特朗普和他的政府从20世纪90年代早期新型肺炎关于联邦政府将在9月及之前提供什么的大流行——一个在某个时候看起来足够遥远的月份，它将留下足够的时间来制定对抗病毒的计划。
被批评者称之为对病毒的缓慢反应所困扰，政府高级官员一次又一次地使用自我设定的最后期限，健康白宫冠状病毒工作小组的专家和总统本人都在努力预测冠状病毒应对措施的进展以及难以恢复的正常状态。
现在九月到了，美国广播公司新闻评论发现差不多所有这些承诺和预测在检测、疗养院和死亡率等方面，要么落后，要么严重落后。
温暖的夏季天气并没有导致病毒消失。测试仍然落后于几乎每一个指标。随着联邦支持资金的枯竭，美国的雇主们正在从夏季复苏，却没有任何即将复苏的感觉。
声明:夏末病毒已消失
在大流行的最初几天，特朗普说，随着大流行“席卷而来”，该县可能会在夏末克服大流行。
总统在3月16日的新闻发布会上说:“人们在谈论7月、8月之类的事情。”。“因此，它可能就在我说它会被冲刷的那个时期——它会被冲刷掉，其他人不喜欢这个词，但它会被冲刷掉。”
2020年9月10日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在密歇根州弗里兰MBS国际机场的竞选活动中与支持者集会。
在大流行开始时，特朗普假设一旦天气变暖，这种疾病就会消失。
特朗普在2月14日表示:“有一种理论认为，在4月份，当天气变暖时——历史上，这已经能够杀死病毒。”“所以我们还不知道;我们还不确定。但那就在眼前了。”
现实:流行病肆虐至秋天
尽管病例在夏季达到峰值，但该病毒在9月份几乎没有在全国范围内消散——根据美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)最近的一项分析，全国25个州的病例仍在增加。
8月初，冠状病毒特别工作组成员、美国领先的传染病专家安东尼·福奇(Anthony Fauci)博士警告说，如果美国到9月份未能将这种疾病的传播速度放缓至每天仅10，000例新病例，“我们在秋季将面临非常糟糕的局面，”福奇说。
2020年7月31日，美国国家过敏和传染病研究所所长安东尼·福奇博士在华盛顿特区举行的冠状病毒危机听证会众议院特别小组委员会上作证。
随着流感季节的到来，这个国家还远没有达到这个水平，这只会加剧对抗病毒的挑战。根据约翰·霍普金斯大学的数据，最近五天的平均新病例显示，全国每天有近40，000例新病例，是福奇所说的可控制的四倍。
声明:特朗普称死亡人数预测被夸大
在5月5日与记者的一次争论中，特朗普拒绝了一个预测美国到8月份将有13.4万人死于该病毒的模型。
“这并没有减轻，”特朗普提出了一个真正的死亡人数会少得多的原因。“我们在做缓解。”
他认为社交距离会降低死亡率，并声称模型“非常不准确”。有几个模型是不正确的，但总统经常试图淡化病毒的死亡人数。
现实:夏季死亡人数会增加
根据COVID跟踪项目的数据，截至8月1日，美国已有146，543例冠状病毒死亡，高于该模型的预测。
当被问及这一评论时，白宫发言人为这一立场进行了辩护。
这位发言人表示:“模型可能存在很大的不准确性。“总统总是把美国人民的健康放在第一位，他在1月份的早期反应就是证明，当时他发布了对中国的旅行禁令，宣布了公共卫生紧急状态，并成立了冠状病毒特别工作组——很明显，他的行动挽救了生命。”
声明:针对就业市场的课程修正
在4月份损失了2000多万个工作岗位后，财政部长史蒂文·姆努钦为秋季提供了一线希望。姆努钦承认，就业人数将“在好转之前变得更糟”，他预测，到9月份，就业市场将开始走上正轨。
“我们会有一个更好的第三季度，我们会有一个更好的第四季度，”姆努钦在5月10日的福克斯周日新闻上说。(9月标志着第三财季结束，第四财季开始。)“明年将是伟大的一年。”
在这张2020年8月9日拍摄的档案照片中，华盛顿特区的一栋租金控制建筑上展示了一条反对租房者驱逐的横幅
现实:情况有所改善，但失业率仍高于大流行前水平
姆努钦关于经济将在9月份开始好转的广泛预言基本上成立。虽然还有很长的路要走，但股市已经反弹，雇主们正在削减失业率。
尽管如此，根据美国劳工统计局(Bureau of Labor Statistics)的数据，8月份美国雇主增加了140万个工作岗位，失业率降至8.4%，比前几个月有所改善，但仍明显高于疫情爆发前2月份3.5%的失业率。
周四宣布有884，000人申请失业一周内——标志着连续第25周的历史高失业率。
声明:白宫称美国将在9月前进行1亿次测试
当被美国广播公司(ABC News)问及特朗普一再贬低冠状病毒检测水平的言论时，白宫新闻秘书凯丽·麦克纳尼(Kayleigh McEnany)在8月份吹捧了美国正在进行的“令人印象深刻”的检测数量，并声称美国“有望在9月底前进行1亿次检测”，据HHS称。
“这太不寻常了，”她说。
现实:截至9月1日，管理的人数刚刚超过8500万
将近9月中旬，1亿次测试的预测几乎已经黯然失色。
在9月1日的新闻发布会上，卫生与公众服务部的检测主管布雷特·吉洛尔上将说，美国已经进行了8500多万次新冠肺炎检测。联邦应急管理局9月1日的一份备忘录强调了同样的数字:已经进行了85，070，581次。
今年8月，吉尔洛还表示，到9月份，美国将进行8500万次测试——这一预测完全正确。
当被问及麦克纳尼报道的不准确数字时，白宫发言人指出，9月7日的新测试数据更接近她提供的总数。“截至9月7日，我们已经在全国范围内进行了大约9340万次测试，”发言人说。
HHS没有立即回复美国广播公司关于测试的询问。这份报告发表后，HHS的一位发言人表示，政府达到了预期。
这位发言人说:“我们没有错过这一点。”。“事实上，我们有望在9月份完成1亿次新冠肺炎测试。截至9月11日，我们已经完成了9400万次测试。”
在这张2020年7月31日的档案照片中，美国助理卫生部长布雷特·吉洛尔(Brett Giroir)在华盛顿国会山举行的众议院特别小组委员会关于冠状病毒的听证会上发言。
声明:每月测试5000万人的能力
在一次极其缓慢的测试部署导致整个县的短缺之后，卫生部长助理吉洛尔(Giroir)在5月份承诺，到9月份，美国将大幅提高其每月测试多达5000万人的能力，这是自大流行早期以来的一次重大扩展。
现实:连一半都没有
根据美国广播公司新闻获得的联邦应急管理局内部备忘录，美国8月份报告的测试结果刚刚超过2400万，略低于吉洛尔预测的一半。
同样，对COVID测试的巨大需求表明，如果有能力，数字会更高。
HHS的一位发言人坚称，政府有能力执行远远超过当前需求的测试。
声明:50%的测试将在15分钟内得出结果
7月，吉尔洛再次对测试进行了预测:到9月，一半的测试将在15分钟内得出结果。
当时，该国正在经历病毒传播的显著增加，导致测试周转和结果的积压，在某些情况下可能需要两周以上，专家表示，这种延迟使结果几乎无用。
现实:周转时间已经加快，但是没有证据表明快速测试得到了广泛的部署
根据美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)获得的联邦应急管理局(FEMA)内部备忘录，夏季以来长达数周的测试延迟报告已经平息，测试周转时间似乎显著加快，尽管没有证据表明快速测试得到了广泛部署。
根据美国广播公司新闻获得的联邦应急管理局内部备忘录，截至9月1日，90%以上的测试结果在三天内返回，这是测试的典型周转时间。根据备忘录，3%的测试持续时间超过5天。
8月21日，新冠肺炎最大的测试实验室之一Quest报告称，它正在处理的测试的平均周转时间为两天。
一位HHS发言人说，随着秋季的继续，快速测试能力预计将会提高。8月下旬，食品和药物管理局批准了一项价值5美元的雅培实验室快速测试的紧急使用授权。
发言人说:“雅培预计从9月份开始，这些测试的产量将达到每月4800万台。”。
The Trump administration made many COVID promises for fall. Here's where they stand.
Widespread rapid testing. Football stadiums filled with fans. A rebounding jobs market.
Those are just some of the promises and predictions PresidentDonald Trumpand his administration have made since the early days of thenovel coronaviruspandemic about what the federal government would deliver by September and before -- a month that at one point seemed distant enough that it would leave ample time to develop plans to combat the virus.
Plagued by what critics call a slow response to the virus out of the gate, the self-imposed deadline has been used time and again by senior administration officials,healthexperts on the White House coronavirus task force and the president himself as part of an effort to prophesize progress in the ongoing response to the coronavirus and the elusive return to normalcy.
Now September is here, and an ABC News review found that nearlyall of those promises and predictions-- on testing, nursing homes, and death rates, among others -- have either fallen short or are drastically behind.
Warm summer weather did not cause the virus to vanish. Testing still lags in nearly every metric. And with federal support funds depleted, the nation's employers are emerging from the summer without any sense of an imminent resurgence.
Statement: Virus gone by end of summer
In the earliest days of the pandemic, Trump said that the county may overcome the pandemic by the late summer months as it "washes through."
"People are talking about July, August -- something like that," the president said at the March 16 press briefing. "So it could be right in that period of time where I say it washes -- it washes through, other people don't like that term but where it washes through."
President Donald Trump rallies with supporters during a campaign event at MBS International Airport in Freeland, Mich., on Sept. 10, 2020.
Toward the beginning of the pandemic, Trump posited that the disease would dissipate once warmer weather arrived.
"There's a theory that, in April, when it gets warm -- historically, that has been able to kill the virus," Trump said on Feb. 14. "So we don't know yet; we're not sure yet. But that's around the corner."
Reality: Pandemic rages into fall
While cases peaked in the summer, the virus has hardly dissipated across the country in September -- according to a recent ABC News analysis, cases are still increasing in 25 states across the country.
In early August, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the coronavirus task force and the nation's leading infectious disease expert, warned that if the United States failed to slow the spread of the disease to just 10,000 new cases per day by September, "we're going to have a really bad situation in the fall," Fauci said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, D.C., on July 31, 2020.
The country is nowhere near that level as it heads into flu season, which will only exasperate the challenges of combating the virus. A recent five-day average of new cases show nearly 40,000 new cases per day nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University -- quadruple what Fauci said would be manageable.
Statement: Trump said death toll prediction overblown
During a gaggle with reporters on May 5, Trump brushed off a model that predicted the United States would see 134,000 deaths from the virus by August.
"That's with no mitigation," Trump offered as a reason the real toll would be far less. "We're doing mitigation."
He argued that social distancing would keep the fatalities lower, and claimed models have been "very inaccurate." Several models have been incorrect, but the president has regularly sought to downplay the virus' death toll.
Reality: Death toll higher by summer
By Aug. 1, the U.S. had seen 146,543 coronavirus deaths, according to The COVID Tracking Project -- higher than what the model had predicted.
When asked about the comment, a White House spokesperson defended the position.
"Models can be widely inaccurate," the spokesperson said. "The president has always put the health of the American people first as evidenced by his early response in January when he issued a travel ban on China, declared a public health emergency, and created the coronavirus task force -- it's clear his actions saved lives."
Statement: Course correction for the job market
After an April in which more than 20 million jobs were lost, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin offered a glimmer of hope for the fall. After conceding that the jobs numbers would "get worse before they get better," Mnuchin predicted that, come September, the job market would begin to correct course.
"We'll have a better third quarter, we'll have a better fourth quarter," Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday on May 10. (September marks the end of the third fiscal quarter and the beginning of the fourth.) "And next year is going to be a great year."
In this file photo taken on Aug. 9, 2020, a banner against renters eviction reading is displayed on a controlled-rent building in Washington, D.C.
Reality: An improvement, but joblessness still higher than pre-pandemic
Mnuchin's broad prophecy that the economy would begin to turn around by September largely holds up. While there is still a long way to go, the stock market has rebounded and employers are chipping away at the jobless rate.
Even so, in August, U.S. employers added 1.4 million jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 8.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an improvement from prior months but still a marked uptick from the 3.5% unemployment rate in February, before the pandemic took hold.
On Thursday it was announced 884,000 peopleapplied for unemploymentin one week -- marking the 25th straight week of historically high unemployment claims.
Statement: White House says country on track to 'do' 100 million tests by September
Asked by ABC News about Trump's repeated comments disparaging the level of coronavirus testing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in August touted the "impressive" number of tests being conducted in the United States, and claimed the country was "on track according to HHS, to do 100 million by September."
"That is extraordinary," she said.
Reality: Just over 85 million administered as of Sept. 1
Nearly mid-way through September, and the projection of 100 million tests has almost been eclipsed.
In a briefing on Sept. 1, Adm. Brett Giroir, the Health and Human Services testing czar, said the United States had conducted more than 85 million COVID-19 tests. A Federal Emergency Management Agency memo from Sept. 1 highlighted the same figure: 85,070,581 have been conducted, it said.
In August, Giroir also said the U.S. would have conducted 85 million tests by September -- a projection that was precisely on the mark.
Asked about the inaccurate number McEnany reported, a White House spokesperson pointed to newer testing figures from Sept. 7 that are closer to the total she offered. "As of Sept. 7, we have conducted approximately 93.4 million tests nationwide," the spokesperson said.
HHS did not immediately respond to ABC News inquiries about the testing. After this report was published, a spokesperson for HHS said the government met its projection.
“We have not missed the mark,” the spokesperson said. “In fact, we are on track to have completed 100 million COVID-19 tests in September. As of September 11 we are at 94 million tests have been completed.”
In this July 31, 2020 file photo, Adm. Brett Giroir, U.S. assistant secretary for health, speaks during a House Select Subcommittee hearing on the coronavirus on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Statement: Capability to test 50 million people a month
After a critically slow testing rollout that led to shortages across the county, Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, promised in May that by September, the U.S. would have drastically ramped up its capabilities to be able to test up to 50 million people a month -- a major expansion from the early days of the pandemic.
Reality: Not even half
The United States reported just over 24 million test results the month of August, according to an internal FEMA memo obtained by ABC News -- just below half of Giroir's prediction.
Again, significant demand for COVID tests suggest the numbers would have been higher if the capabilities were there.
An HHS spokesperson maintained that the government has the capacity to execute vastly more tests than the current demand calls for.
Statement: 50% of tests conducted would yield results in 15 minutes
In July, Giroir again made another projection about testing: by September, half of the tests conducted would have results back in just 15 minutes.
At the time, the country was experiencing a significant increase in spread of the virus, leading to backlogs in testing turnaround and results, which could take longer than two weeks in some cases, a delay experts said rendered results almost useless.
Reality: Turnaround time has picked up, but no evidence of widespread deployment of rapid tests
Reports of weeks-long testing delays from the summer have since subsided, and testing turnaround time appears to have picked up significantly, according to an internal FEMA memo obtained by ABC News, though there is no evidence of widespread deployment of rapid tests.
As of Sept. 1, just over 90% of test results came back in under three days, the typical turnaround time for a test, according to an internal FEMA memo obtained by ABC News. Still, 3% of tests were taking longer than five days, according to the memo.
On Aug. 21, one of the largest COVID-19 testing labs, Quest, reported an average turnaround time of two days for tests it was processing.
An HHS spokesperson said rapid test capabilities are expected to increase as the fall goes on. In late August, the Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency use authorization for a $5 Abbott Labs rapid test.
“Abbott has projected production of these tests up to 48 million per month beginning in September,” the spokesperson said.
