The coronavirus death toll has now surpassed that of the September 11 attacks, which claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans.

Jonathan Last: “Understand that the publicly reported death toll is merely the lower bound on the true number. In order for a death to be included in this count, the patient must have tested positive for COVID-19 either pre- or post-mortem. In some cases hospitals are so overwhelmed that people in obvious respiratory distress are being admitted and treated for COVID-19 without being tested, because an official diagnosis is superfluous and tests are being rationed. Some of these people die.”

“President Trump told governors on a conference call on Monday that he had not ‘heard about testing in weeks,’ suggesting that a chronic lack of kits to screen people for the coronavirus was no longer a problem,” the New York Times reports.

“But governors painted a different picture on the ground.”

In fact, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) told CNN this morning his state will see its peak in coronavirus cases “between mid-April and mid-May… It’s a 30-day period time. We’re not quite sure when… Part of this is driven by the fact that we don’t have widespread testing.”

A new DailyKos/Civiqs poll finds 57% of Americans say the U.S. government acted too slowly to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, including 18% of Republicans. Just 35% think the government acted in a timely fashion.

Overall, 51% of Americans disapprove of how President Trump has handled the response to the coronavirus.

“I’m afraid many have been misled into thinking that some of his earlier statements about using the word hoax — and he used it in a specialized way — but saying it was going to disappear, those kinds of things, I feel badly for those who believe that stuff and have not been protecting themselves.”

— Al Gore, on CNN.