Trump downplays virus risk in fall
President disagrees with Georgia’s plan to ease restrictions
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday played down the possibility that the coronavirus could be worse this winter despite medical experts’ warnings that COVID-19 could combine with the flu to make a more complicated return to the United States.
Trump, who has been pushing for states to begin reopening their economies, batted down notions that COVID-19 could return in large waves, as has happened in previous pandemics.
Health experts and members of the White House coronavirus task force have warned of a possible comeback for the virus in the fall.
“It’s not going to be what we’ve gone through, in any way, shape or form,” Trump said flatly.
He continued: “If it comes back, though, it won’t be coming back in the form that it was. It will be coming back in smaller doses that we can contain. You could have some embers of corona (but) we will not go through what we went through for the last two months.”
Trump then turned to Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the coronavirus task force, and asked, “Doctor, wouldn’t you say there’s a good chance that COVID will not come back?”
“We don’t know,” Birx responded.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said later in the same briefing: “We will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced of that.”
He stressed that in the fall, the nation would be better prepared to manage it.
“Whether or not it’s going to be big or small is going to depend on our response,” Fauci said.
Trump’s insistence that the virus won’t pose a grave danger later this year could run the risk of creating a false sense of security when health experts are still urging Americans to take precautions. Moreover, it could stand as a precarious political prediction when he goes before voters in November.
Trump opened his daily briefing by calling up the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, to address his assertion a day earlier that “there’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through.”
Redfield said he wanted to clarify those remarks to The Washington Post, although he confirmed the statement was accurately reported.
“I didn’t say that this was going to be worse,” Redfield said. “I said it was going to be more difficult and potentially complicated.”
He added, “We are building that public healthcare capacity now to make sure that we stay in the containment mode for the upcoming fall and winter season so we will not need to resort to the kind of mitigation that we had to in the spring.”
Trump had been unhappy about Redfield’s remarks, which conflicted with the administration’s optimistic messaging that the country will soon move beyond the virus. The president tweeted earlier in the day that Redfield’s comments had been misconstrued.
For weeks, the Trump administration played up the dangers of the coronavirus as it sought to convince Americans to disrupt their lives and stay home.
Trump said at the daily briefing Wednesday that he told Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that he “disagreed strongly” with Kemp’s decision to begin allowing some nonessential businesses to reopen.
On Friday, elective medical procedures will resume and barbershops, nail salons and gyms will reopen with restrictions. Limited inrestaurant dining will resume Monday.
Trump said he told Kemp he had misgivings over the governor’s plan, but would not stand in his way.
“The people of Georgia have been strong, resolute, but at the same time he must do what he thinks is right,” Trump said of Kemp, a Republican. “I want him to do what he thinks is right. But I disagree with him on what he’s doing. But I think (opening) spas and beauty salons and tattoo parlors and barbershops in phase one it’s just too soon.”
A spokeswoman for Kemp didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump predicted earlier this month that the economy would take off like a “rocket ship once we get back to business.”
But experts say the recovery will be far slower.
“It’ll be a very gradual process regardless of what a governor says or the president says,” said Dr. Robert Blendon, a Harvard professor of health policy and political analysis. He said the history of lockdowns, particularly the quarantine of more than 25,000 people around Toronto in 2003 to slow the spread of SARS, shows that it will take weeks, even months, for people to develop the confidence to resume normal activity.
Blendon also warned that a predicted second wave of COVID-19 could reverse any gains made in the interim.
The outbreak has infected more thaan 2.6 million people and killed about 182,000 around the world, including more than 46,000 in the United States, according to a tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University from official government figures.