Americans ‘went overboard’ as country lifted restrictions
A lot of Americans “went overboard” when coronavirus restrictions were eased and must become “serious” again, a member of US president Donald Trump’s cabinet has said.
Housing and urban development secretary Ben Carson, speaking on a UK television show about the rising number of cases in the US, said people have not been adhering to social distancing measures or wearing face coverings.
Mr Carson also declined to say Mr Trump has done a “great job” in his handling of the crisis, commenting that there is “always room for improvement”.
Speaking on the BBC’S Andrew Marr show about the rising number of cases, Mr Carson said: “Now we’re down to 650 deaths per day, even though the number of cases has increased.
“It was expected that the number of cases would increase obviously when we started reopening things, but I think a lot of people kind of went overboard and have not been socially distancing, haven’t been wearing their mask and have been congregating closer together, particularly a lot of the young people.
“That’s why you see the average age of those who have contracted the virus much lower now, but of course those individuals are much less susceptible to mortality.”
Mr Carson also said it is “disturbing” that people are not following the recommendations, adding: “I think you’re probably going to see much greater emphasis on that.”
Asked if he thinks Mr Trump has done a “great job” in his handling of the crisis, Mr Carson replied: “Well, there’s always room for improvement and that’s what we’re always going to be looking at – you know, analysing the data, looking at best cases and adjusting accordingly.”
Asked if he thinks Covid-19 marks a turning point in Mr Trump’s fortunes, Mr Carson said: “I suspect that probably anybody who was president right now wouldn’t be looking too great, quite frankly, because of circumstances that they can’t necessarily control.
“But the election is quite a distance away, and if you’ve been following American politics you know things turn on a dime.”
Commenting on the prospect of the European Union banning Americans from travelling to Europe due to high rate of coronavirus infection in the US, Mr Carson said: “I get the impression that in some other parts of the world, people have been very serious about the social distancing, about the wearing of masks, and about the sanitation, and we just have to become that serious again.”