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Reuters
In an interview, President Trump said that he downplayed the severity of the virus to avoid panic.
US President Donald Trump has denied that he has downplayed the severity of Covid-19, despite admitting in a recorded interview that he did.
At a televised event with voters, Trump said he had “exaggerated it.”
The claim contradicts what Trump told journalist Bob Woodward earlier this year that he downplayed the severity of the virus to avoid panic.
And Trump repeated that a vaccine could be ready “in a few weeks” despite skepticism from US health experts.
No vaccine has yet completed clinical trials, leading some scientists to fear politics rather than health and safety is driving the momentum for a vaccine ahead of the November 3 presidential election.
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- Coronavirus: the week everything changed for Trump
Woodward, who broke the Watergate scandal in 1972 and is one of the most respected journalists in the country, interviewed Trump 18 times from December to July.
Trump was quoted as saying the virus was “somewhat deadly” before the first death in the United States was confirmed.
More than 195,000 people have died with Covid-19 in the US since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University.
What did President Trump say?
At Tuesday’s town hall meeting held by ABC News in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Trump was asked why he would “downplay a pandemic known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities.”
Trump responded, “Yeah, well, I didn’t downplay it. In fact, in many cases, I surpassed it, in terms of action.”
“My action was very strong,” he said, citing a ban imposed on people traveling from China and Europe earlier this year.
“We would have lost thousands more if he hadn’t put the ban in place. We saved a lot of lives when we did that,” Trump said.
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In February, Trump indicated in the Woodward interview that he knew more about the severity of the disease than he had publicly said.
“It’s on the air,” Trump is heard saying on the tape. “That’s always harder than touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it happens.
“And that is very complicated. It is very delicate. It is also more deadly than even her exhausting blush.”
In Philadelphia, Trump, who is seeking reelection, also repeated his earlier claim that the virus would go away on its own because people would “develop … a herd mentality”, probably referring to “herd immunity” when they have developed. enough people. resistance to a disease to stop its transmission.
The question-and-answer meeting with undecided voters comes as the presidential election battle enters its final stages.
Trump’s Democratic rival Joe Biden is expected to participate in a similar show in Pennsylvania that airs Thursday.
Pennsylvania is seen as a key state on the battlefield in the race for the White House.
