White House chief of staff says Trump administration is 'not going to control the pandemic'

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Sunday said the Trump administration is "not going to control the pandemic," and will instead "control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics, and other mitigations."

Meadows made his comments during an interview on CNN, and when asked to elaborate on why the pandemic can't be contained, he said, "because it is a contagious virus just like the flu. 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."

On Friday and Saturday, the U.S. reported more than 83,000 new coronavirus cases, and as of Sunday, more than 224,000 Americans have died of the virus. Despite health officials warning against large gatherings and urging the use of masks to curb the spread of coronavirus, President Trump continues to hold big campaign rallies, with people standing next to each other and face coverings optional. Meadows defended the campaign events by saying, "We live in a free society."

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden commented on Meadows' remarks, saying this wasn't "a slip by Meadows, it was a candid acknowledgment of what President Trump's strategy has clearly been from the beginning of this crisis: to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus would simply go away. It hasn't, and it won't."