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From NBC's Ben Kamisar If it's Sunday, the White House's message on masks appears to be: Do as they say, not as he does.
Take it from Health and Human Services Sec. Alex Azar: The "surging" number of coronavirus cases is a "very serious situation." And the "window is closing" to address it.
With no vaccine or cure yet (although there are promising reports of treatments) and asymptomatic transmission a serious concern, public health officials continue to bang the drum on the need for social distancing and mask-wearing.
One of those officials is Azar, who joined Sunday's "Meet the Press" and echoed that guidance on four separate occasions.
But President Trump has largely refrained from setting that example — he doesn't wear a mask in public and his campaign has held two recent, indoor events with little social distancing or mask usage.
Many Republicans appear to be looking for Trump to set an example at the top, or to find someone who can.
Azar repeatedly leaned on the whole-of-government approach, noting that the White House coronavirus guidelines have long recommended facial coverings. "So I'm the president's secretary of health. I'm telling you, practice social distancing. Where you can't appropriately social distance, we encourage you to wear a facial covering."
—Health and Human Services Sec. Alex Azar But even state governments have failed in many cases to follow federal reopening guidelines, some opening faster than recommended.
New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo panned those guidelines as "very vague" on "Meet the Press," and accused the White House of basically telling the states: “You’re on your own.”
And polls show that those who sometimes, rarely or never wear masks overwhelmingly favor the president over Joe Biden.
So if, to use Azar's words, "the window is closing," can speaking for the president cut through like his own words and actions could?
Bolton talks Russia, impeachment Shortly before Sunday's "Meet the Press," President Trump tweeted about a bombshell report in the New York Times that Russian intelligence offered Taliban-linked militias bounties to kill coalition forces in Afghanistan. Ambassador John Bolton dissected that in-part denial on today's "Meet the Press," wondering why Trump is "going out of his way to say he hasn't heard anything about it?"
The former Trump national security adviser went on to lambast the president and warn of the "serious consequences" of a second Trump term while refusing to support Joe Biden.
And he defended his decision not to testify in front of the House despite his clear concerns about the very conduct the House was investigating during impeachment, accusing Democrats of playing politics.
Click on the photo below to watch the full interview. "The House effort didn't take into account the possibility that the White House would argue successfully that even if it were true, it didn't rise to the level of an impeachable offense."
—Former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Brendan Smialowski / AFP
TWEET OF THE DAY: Tweeted and then deleted
DATA DOWNLOAD: What do the coronavirus outlier countries have in common? As some countries have seen a dramatic decrease in coronavirus cases and positive test rates, the United States is not among them.
Instead, America and Brazil have among the highest new infection rates in the world, and America, Russia and India are among the countries with high and/or rising infection rates.
And on the other end of the spectrum, Germany, Italy and New Zealand have made big strides in controlling the virus.
Today's Data Download looked for through-lines to help explain the why.
Neither wealth nor health care expenditures do not appear to make a significant difference. Neither does the timeline of a country's first recorded case.
What do those countries battling severe outbreaks now have in common? Governments that, at times, have downplayed the virus.
Click on the graphic below to read more from today's Data Download.
ICYMI: What about the schools? The coronavirus recovery has been hard enough, especially for parents who had to jump into action as schools closed for the remaining months of the school year.
Now, another school year is creeping closer. And with the new spike in cases adding even more uncertainty to the equation, there are far more questions than answers about what school will look like across the country.
It's not just a huge issue for parents — an economic recovery could be harder to achieve if parents lack options for childcare or in-person schooling.
And there's evidence that shows school closures exacerbate issues along racial, class, gender and geographic lines.
Click on the link to read more from NBC's Benjy Sarlin.
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