“New coronavirus cases in the U.S. rose to more than 52,000, the highest daily total in more than a month, as wildfires in some Western states and a hurricane that made landfall in the Southeast opened potential pathways for the virus to spread further,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Meanwhile, President Trump doubled down on his claim that the virus will “go away” thanks to what he called “herd mentality,” even if no viable vaccine is created.

President Trump told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that he has a new heath care plan ready to unveil:

TRUMP: I have it all ready. I have it all ready.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But it’s … you’ve been trying to strike down preexisting conditions…

TRUMP: It doesn’t matter. I have it all ready, and it’s a much better plan for you, and it’s a much better plan.

“Undeterred by mounting criticism over his repeated dismissals of the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump doubled down on his claim that the virus will “go away” on Tuesday, the Daily Beast reports.

Even if it doesn’t, he said, “herd mentality” will take over and save us all.

Said Trump: “You’ll develop like a herd mentality. It’s going to be herd-developed, and that’s going to happen, that will all happen… But I really believe we’re rounding the corner.”

President Trump denied that he had downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, claiming he “up-played” the danger of the disease through his actions, CNBC reports.

The president’s assertion that “in many ways I up-played it in terms of action” came less than a week after the release of audio from an interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward, in which Trump said of the coronavirus: “I wanted to always play it down … I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.” 

That clip was recorded in mid-March, more than a month after Trump reportedly told Woodward that he understood the virus was “more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”