[472] In late spring and early summer, with infections and death counts continuing to rise, he adopted a strategy of blaming the states for the growing pandemic, rather than accepting that his initial assessments of the course of the pandemic were overly-optimistic or his failure to provide presidential leadership.[473]

White House Coronavirus Task Force
Trump conducts a COVID-19 press briefing with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force on March 15, 2020.
Trump established the White House Coronavirus Task Force on January 29, 2020.[474] Beginning in mid-March, Trump held a daily task force press conference, joined by medical experts and other administration officials,[475] sometimes disagreeing with them by promoting unproven treatments.[476] Trump was the main speaker at the briefings, where he praised his own response to the pandemic, frequently criticized rival presidential candidate Joe Biden, and denounced the press.[475][477] On March 16, he acknowledged for the first time that the pandemic was not under control and that months of disruption to daily lives and a recession might occur.[478] His repeated use of the terms "Chinese virus" and "China virus" to describe COVID-19 drew criticism from health experts.