The US coronavirus death toll keeps rising – but outside of the DC bubble, it’s business as usual

As a maskless Donald Trump addresses reporters at the White House, John T Bennett observes people in a beach town three hours from the capital are alarmingly relaxed about the pandemic

Donald Trump talks to the press in New Jersey yesterday (AFP/Getty)

Donald Trump was addressing reporters early one evening last week, but no one in a beach town about three hours from Washington seemed to care.

The president had his head down, reading from prepared remarks about the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed at least 163,500 people in the United States.

He was not wearing a mask. He never does at the White House. And rarely anywhere else that’s not a medical facility.