(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump called off a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Friday, saying he did not want to “interfere” as the agency races to stem the coronavirus that has infected more than 100,000 people globally.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., March 2, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Trump canceled his plans to travel to the headquarters to the main U.S. agency fighting the outbreak before signing a bill allocating $8.3 billion to stop the virus from spreading. The bill breezed through the Senate with a passing vote of 96-1 on Thursday.
“The CDC has been proactive and prepared since the very beginning and the President does not want to interfere with the CDC’s mission to protect the health and welfare of their people and the agency,” a White House official said, explaining the decision to call off the trip.
The death toll from the respiratory illness rose to 14 in the United States on Friday, according to public health data compiled by the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
More than 100,000 people have been infected worldwide, including 233 in the United States. More than 3,400 people have died across the world, most of them i