Mayors blame federal, state officials for mixed messaging as coronavirus cases surge

The mayors of cities seeing massive spikes in coronavirus cases pushed back Sunday on optimistic projections about the pandemic, saying mixed messages at different levels of government led to confusion among residents, many of whom began to believe the crisis was over and it was safe to return to pre-pandemic norms.They said the aggressive reopening timelines pursued by state officials in Texas, Florida and Arizona allowed people to crowd into…