Trump: ‘People have to remain calm’ amid coronavirus outbreak.
ATLANTA » President Donald Trump sought to play down the coronavirus outbreak Friday and offered a vote of confidence in besieged federal health officials as infections spread further, markets tumbled again and authorities scrambled to accelerate the availability of testing kits across the country.
“It will end,” Trump said during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the center of the federal government’s efforts to combat the virus. “People have to remain calm.”
Asked if Americans were overreacting or taking reasonable precautions by canceling travel and events, Trump suggested such actions may not always be necessary except in areas with substantial infections. “I think it’s fine if they want to do it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an overreaction, but I wouldn’t be generally inclined to do it.”
Trump flew to Atlanta after signing an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill at the White House to ramp up efforts to curb the virus. But his trip to the CDC reflected the uncertainty and fear that currently have the nation on edge. The president canceled the trip Thursday night after being told that a CDC employee might have the coronavirus herself, then he uncanceled the trip Friday morning after a test result came back negative.
After touring the laboratories at the CDC headquarters Friday, the president emphasized that the number of infections and deaths in the United States remained limited and that the fatality rate was relatively low.
Trump said he would prefer not to let passengers from a cruise ship held off the coast of California disembark onto U.S. soil in part because it would make the number of U.S. infections look worse. But he added that he had backed down from that position and authorized federal health officials to make the decision.
Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC director who gave the president a tour of his facilities, said the government still hoped to control the spread of the virus to prevent a pandemic.
After his stop in Atlanta, Trump headed to Florida to headline campaign fundraising events and spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate.