But by the time broader distribution of a vaccine is underway next spring, Mr. Trump’s presidency will have long ended.
A spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, responded on Twitter, saying that Mr. Trump “has failed with his pandemic response, lied to Americans about how bad it was when he knew otherwise & was fired by voters for his incompetence. @NYGovCuomo is fighting to ensure the communities hit hardest by Covid get the vaccine. Feds providing 0 resources.”
Federal resources were very much on the minds of state officials as they grappled with infection numbers shooting skyward and hospitals on the verge of being overrun.
Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin, where the number of new cases reached a daily record 8,256 on Thursday, said whatever Mr. Trump said now could not make up for his refusals to wear a mask and his embrace of large public gatherings, at campaign rallies and at the White House.
While the outgoing administration could still help, Gov. Evers said, “they also report to a president who, frankly, isn’t the most consistent one as it relates to the things that count: masks, and making sure you’re not in public gatherings with a whole bunch of people to spread the disease.”
“They’re not going to play a huge political role here,” he added.
Jennifer Miller, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said much of the department’s response had been paid for by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, known as the CARES Act, which is set to expire Dec. 31, thanks in part to Mr. Trump’s failure to negotiate new relief despite months of wrangling with Congress.
Kim Deti, a spokeswoman for the Wyoming Department of Health, said health officials there were also concerned about having enough money to continue contact tracing and other operations that they believed had kept the state’s virus cases low for much of the year.
