- President Trump and top White House economist Larry Kudlow claimed coronavirus is under control in the United States.
- But U.S. health officials are warning that the exact opposite is true.
- The Trump Administration recently criticized China’s coronavirus response for lack of transparency. So why is it lying to Americans now?
President Donald Trump claimed Monday that the coronavirus “is very much under control in the USA.” Amazingly, in the same tweet, he encourages people to buy stocks:
It’s hard to tell if Trump is more interested in public health or keeping the stock market floating until Nov 3, 2020.
Top Trump Advisor Lies About Coronavirus
On Tuesday, top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said we “have contained” the coronavirus. Keep in mind, Kudlow is a finance official, not a health official.
Kudlow went on CNBC’s “The Exchange” and said that containment of the virus was “pretty close to airtight.” But that’s what Kudlow said 12 days ago at a White House press conference. Kudlow claimed:
It’s well contained here… The virus is contained in the United States.
On the day he made that statement, Feb 13, there were 15 official cases of coronavirus in the U.S. confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control. When Kudlow made the same claim on Tuesday, the case total had spiked to 53.
That sounds pretty far from airtight to me. That’s a 340% increase in cases in 12 days. If COVID-19 cases continue to grow at that rate, three million people living in the U.S. could be infected by the coronavirus by the first day of summer.
If that doesn’t happen, it will be due to extraordinary containment efforts. The CDC warns the necessary response will drastically disrupt life and business in the U.S.
U.S. Health Officials Contradict White House
Larry Kudlow also dismissively referred to the global health emergency as “the virus story” and “the virus thing,” saying:
The virus story’s not going to last forever. It’s not going to last forever… The virus thing will pass.
But it’s not “a story.” It’s a contagious virus that causes a dangerous upper respiratory disease. It’s spreading rapidly throughout China and other countries like South Korea, Iran, and Italy.
U.S. health officials warn the U.S. will have to take “aggressive measures to slow and contain” the virus:
These measures can be disruptive and might have societal and economic impact on individual persons and communities
The coronavirus response includes coordination with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They will likely have to screen airline travelers in airports. CDC says school dismissals, cancellations of mass gatherings, and working from home, if possible, “might be critical to averting widespread COVID-19 transmission” in the U.S.
On Tuesday, U.S. health officials said the spread of coronavirus in the United States is “inevitable.” Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said:
Ultimately, we will see community spread in this country. It’s not a question of if but rather a question of when and how many people in this country will have severe illness.
Either Trump and Kudlow are smarter than the scientists, or they’re blatantly lying about the coronavirus.
The White House Is Just as Deceitful as China’s Government
In his Feb 13 remarks, Larry Kudlow said the White House is “quite disappointed in China’s response.” Kudlow explains:
We thought there was better transparency coming out of China. But it doesn’t appear to be. I know they revised their numbers up a bit.
So why are he and Trump trying to keep Americans in the dark about the coronavirus?
Maybe it’s the best tactic to avoid unnecessary panic. But it could also lead to further proliferation of the disease. Either way, the White House can’t judge the Chinese government for their lack of transparency.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
This article was edited by Aaron Weaver.
