A month ago, President Trump went on Fox and downplayed the potential lethality of the novel coronavirus and compared it to the seasonal flu.
"We've had horrible flus," Trump
said
Trump's numbers on the flu
have come into question
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The United States saw its first documented death from the novel coronavirus Feb. 29. The day before that death, Trump claimed it was Democrats who were "politicizing" coronavirus and said it was "their new hoax" to criticize his administration's response to it.
A week later, the president was touting poll numbers (that have since receded) and saying, "Anybody that wants a test can get a test." (That still isn't close to true.)
A week after that,
despite world health officials' warnings
By Trump's Fox town hall near the end of March, just
706 Americans had died
In the month of April alone, the number of deaths has gone up almost tenfold,
from 4,780
Trump is now focused on reopening — without implementing a national testing plan — and even says he's encouraged and that "it's a beautiful thing."
But the reality is the deaths from coronavirus continue to spike, Trump didn't see it coming, and without the kind of careful reopening advised by health officials, there could be the kind of "rebound" that Dr. Anthony Fauci warned about in Wednesday's briefing.
"Although I know one has the need to leapfrog over things, don't do that," Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said. "Do it in a measured way. This is a successful formula. The problem is if we don't do that, there is a likelihood that we will have a rebound. The one way not to reopen the economy is to have a rebound that we can't take care of."
The briefing in brief:
Here are highlights from Wednesday's White House coronavirus task force's daily briefing:
- There's no such thing as "coronavirus embers": President Trump expressed doubt about a potential serious second wave of the coronavirus this fall. He claimed new cases may appear on a smaller scale. "We may have some embers," he said, "and we're going to put them out." That contradicts Fauci. "We will have coronavirus in the fall, I am convinced of that," Fauci said, adding, "Whether or not it's going to be big or small is going to depend on our response." The fact is: there is no lessened version of this virus. And without a vaccine or a proven treatment, another outbreak is likely without strict social distancing measures.
- Redfield forced to play cleanup: Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, addressed comments he made to
The Washington Post on Tuesday
- Trump says he disagrees with Georgia Republican governor: The president voiced his opposition to Gov. Brian Kemp's executive order allowing certain businesses to reopen Friday. Trump later refrained from advising Georgians to adhere to his guidance over Kemp's, praised the governor and touted his own role campaigning for Kemp in 2018. Fauci also disagreed with Kemp's executive order saying, "If I were advising the governor, I would tell him that he should be careful." Fauci added that he was against Kemp "going ahead and leapfrogging into phases" the state was not yet ready for. Kemp
responded later
- Trump repeats false claim on testing: The United States has tested about 4.2 million people. The
rest of the world combined
- It's true that the U.S. has tested more than any country, but certainly not all of them combined. What's more, the numbers are beside the point. First, the U.S. was late to testing, allowing the virus to spread farther than it otherwise might have, despite Trump's boast Wednesday that "We were so fast." No, the U.S. wasn't. Secondly, 4.2 million is just 1.3% of the country, hardly enough to feel good about knowing the breadth of the spread of the virus.
- Carson to lead council focused on supporting black and Hispanic communities: Trump announced that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson will focus his White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council on "restoring" black and Hispanic communities hurt by the coronavirus "to full economic health." Trump added that he plans on asking South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott to assist the council with their efforts.
- Trump denies knowing scientist who says he was removed from key post: Trump denied knowing Rick Bright, who was previously in charge of a key agency helping to develop a coronavirus vaccine and claims to have been moved out of his job after he expressed opposition to unproven treatments favored by Trump. "If a guy says he was pushed out of a job, maybe he was maybe he wasn't," Trump said, adding, "I don't know who he is." Bright, through his attorneys, said he will request an investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general.
Quote of the briefing:
"We win, and we win. We want to win, we always-- we win. Sometimes we don't want to win, so we just go to a standstill. But that's always, that's not the way this country works."
--Trump on the country largely being shut down.
Other key coronavirus stories from NPR:
Adding A Nylon Stocking Layer Could Boost Protection From Cloth Masks, Study Finds
Reminder:
Are We Flattening The Curve? States Keep Watch On Coronavirus 'Doubling Times'
READ: Trump Signs Proclamation Temporarily Suspending Immigration
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