Coronavirus government response: Cuomo wears mask as he arrives to meet Trump

Later, Trump travels to Florida, his fourth recent trip to a battleground state.

May 27, 2020, 4:44 PM

7 min read

7 min read

As the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 nears 100,000, President Donald Trump on Wednesday traveled to the battleground state of Florida to witness the first takeoff of American astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years -- but he began his day on Twitter, claiming Democrats and the news media are trying to make him look "slow" in responding to the pandemic and shifting focus to what he called a milestone -- on testing.

Notably, despite the U.S. having completed the highest number of tests, there are several countries with higher levels of testing per capita.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo walks towards the West Wing as he arrives at the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump, May 27, 2020.

He met Wednesday morning in the Oval Office with New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was photographed entering the White House wearing a mask, something Trump has declined to do before cameras and questioned why his political opponent Joe Biden has done so.

President Donald Trump speaks at an event on protecting seniors with diabetes in the Rose Garden White House, May 26, 2020, in Washington.

As he continues his push to reopen the country, when asked at an afternoon Rose Garden news conference on Tuesday what message he had for those flouting restrictions, Trump replied, "Be safe," saying nothing more, declining to criticize them.

Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.

President Donald Trump walks with first lady Melania Trump as they depart for travel to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida from the South Lawn at the White House, May 27, 2020.

Here are Wednesday's most significant developments in Washington:

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during an event on protecting seniors with diabetes in the Rose Garden White House, May 26, 2020, in Washington.

Fauci says there is a good chance a COVID-19 vaccine would be deployable by the end of 2020

The government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, appearing on CNN Wednesday morning, said that there is a good chance that a vaccine for coronavirus would be deployable by the end of the year.

"I still think that we have a good chance -- if all the things fall in the right place -- that we might have a vaccine that would be deployable by the end of the year," Fauci said.

He underscored that the process to develop a vaccine is not a smooth one.

"There are a lot of landmines and hiccups that occur," Fauci said.

The infectious disease expert also emphasized that the rapid development of a vaccine would not come "at the expense of safety nor scientific integrity."

Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke to ABC News' anchor David Muir on Wednesday about what he believed was needed for the U.S. to begin to get back to normal amid the coronavirus crisis.

Asked about France's ban of hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus treatment, Fauci said he's "not so sure" it should be banned, "but clearly the scientific data is really quite evident now about the lack of efficacy."

He pointed out that recent studies had shown that dangerous side effects from hydroxychloroquine "might be rare, but you'd see it, adverse events, particularly with regard to cardiovascular."

-- ABC News' Elizabeth Thomas

What to know about the coronavirus:

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