- White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Monday endorsed President Donald Trump’s false claim that “99%” of coronavirus cases are “completely harmless.”
- During his first interview since taking the role, Meadows told “Fox and Friends” that Trump was “right” to minimize the risks associated with the virus.
- “The vast majority of people are safe from this,” said Meadows.
- “If you are over 80 or have three what they call comorbidities … then you must be very, very careful. Other than that, the risks are extremely low.”
- Trump said during a White House speech on Saturday that in evaluating millions for the coronavirus, “we show cases where 99 percent are completely harmless.”
- Public health experts and local officials have rejected Trump’s claim, citing evidence that far more than 1% of people infected with the virus require hospitalization and suffer serious consequences.
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White House chief of staff Mark Meadows endorsed on Monday President Donald Trump’s false claim that “99%” of coronavirus cases are “totally harmless” and insisted that “the risks [of Covid-19] they are extremely low “for most people.
During his first interview since taking office at the White House, Meadows told “Fox and Friends” that Trump had “reason” to minimize the risks associated with the virus.
“I don’t even know what a generalization is,” Meadows said. “When you start looking at the statistics and all the numbers we have, the amount of evidence we have, the vast majority of people are safe from this.”
Meadows continued: “When you look at the deaths that we have, if you are over 80 or if you have three what they call comorbidities: diabetes, hypertension, heart problems, then you have to be very, very careful. Outside of that, the risks are extremely low and the president is right about that and the facts and statistics support this. ”
Fox’s hosts did not reject Meadows’ statements or ask follow-up questions.
Trump said during a White House speech on Saturday that in evaluating millions for the coronavirus, “we show cases where 99 percent are completely harmless.”
Trump Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn declined Sunday to say that any case of the coronavirus is “harmless.”
“You know, in any case, we don’t want to have in this country,” Hahn told ABC “This Week.” “This is a very fast-moving epidemic, a fast-moving pandemic. And any death, any case is tragic. And we want to do everything we can to prevent that.”
Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said on CBS “Face the Nation” Sunday that “certainly more than one percent of people get serious illnesses” by hiring Covid-19. He added that between two and five percent of infected people should be hospitalized.
Public health officials estimate that the US death rate from coronavirus is less than 5%. Thousands of Americans under the age of 80 and without the pre-existing conditions Meadows mentioned died or suffered serious illnesses as a result of Covid-19. The long-term impacts of the virus are not yet fully understood.
Local officials have also rejected Trump’s false claim.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler told CBS News over the weekend that Trump’s claim “makes me angry.”
“I understand that he has a difficult job, but it is dangerous not to send a clear message to the Americans, to the people of my city,” he said.
About 130,000 people in the US have died from Covid-19 as of Monday, significantly more than in any other country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
During his interview on Monday, Meadows continued to falsely claim, as the President has repeatedly done, that the increase in coronavirus cases in many regions of the country is the result of increased evidence. In fact, the number of new cases of coronavirus in the US is increasing faster than the number of new tests at critical points, indicating that the crisis is worsening in many parts of the country.
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 6, 2020
Meadows also insisted that a national mandate directing Americans to wear face masks in public “is not in order,” and said the administration is “allowing our local governors and local mayors to intervene in that.”
Many local leaders have called for national policies, including a national mask mandate, to contain the spread of the virus, which is growing rapidly in many states.
Trump has refused to set an example for the nation by wearing a mask publicly, and in May said he did not cover his face during a visit to a Ford plant in Michigan because “he did not want to give the press the pleasure of seeing him.” . His suggestion that skins are unnecessary or embarrassing has helped politicize an important tool for containing Covid-19.
