Donald Trump slammed the ‘fake news’ once again today, claiming misinformation is being spread about him telling people that feel sick to still go to work as concerns over coronavirus continue to escalate.
‘I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work,’ Trump asserted in a tweet this morning. ‘This is just more Fake News and disinformation put out by the Democrats, in particular MSDNC.’
‘Comcast covers the CoronaVirus situation horribly, only looking to do harm to the incredible & successful effort being made!’ Trump continued, referencing Comcast-owned MSNBC, which he has dubbed ‘MSDNC’ to imply that the network is controlled by Democrats.
I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work. This is just more Fake News and disinformation put out by the Democrats, in particular MSDNC. Comcast covers the CoronaVirus situation horribly, only looking to do harm to the incredible & successful effort being made!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2020
But, indeed, Trump said that very thing and it’s on tape, from an interview with his favorite right-wing news celebrity Sean Hannity:
‘A lot of people will have this and it’s very mild,’ Trump said or coronavirus during a wide-range interview with the Fox News host Wednesday night. ‘They’ll get better very rapidly.’
He then claimed that people who contract coronavirus shouldn’t go to the doctor because they will get better without medical assistance.
‘They don’t even see a doctor. They don’t even call a doctor,’ Trump continued in his rambling interview with Hannity. ‘You never hear about those people. So you can’t put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and/or virus. So you just can’t do that.’
‘So, if you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work. Some of them go to work, but they get better,’ Trump said.
In what was an alarming #Hannity interview, @realDonaldTrump just said he had a “hunch” that the WHO’s estimated death rate for the #coronavirus is a “false number.”
The WHO’s estimate is 3.4%. Trump falsely claimed it was under 1%. #factsmatter pic.twitter.com/mAH8geicv4
— American Bridge (@American_Bridge) March 5, 2020
This comment sparked several political pundits and media personnel to claim that Trump was insinuating that people who may have contracting coronavirus should still go to work – contrary to what medical professionals and infectious disease experts have advised.
‘With approximately 100,000 CoronaVirus cases worldwide, and 3,280 deaths, the United States, because of quick action on closing our borders, has, as of now, only 129 cases (40 Americans brought in) and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!’ Trump boasted in another tweet posted Thursday morning.
As of last week no one in the U.S. had died from contracting coronavirus.
But over night last Friday, a man in his 60s in Washington state died from the fast-spreading respiratory virus.
Ten more people died in the following days and there are more than 150 confirmed cases in the U.S.
Of the 11 deaths in the U.S., 10 were in Washington state and one in California – but the cases are spread around 17 different states all over the country.
Trump tweeted a quote from Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton praising the president for his response to the coronavirus outbreak.
‘;I want to commend the President for how he has handled the CoronaVirus situation, especially his early decision to shut down access into our Country from China, despite strong opposition to that decision.’ @SenTomCotton Thank you Tom!’ Trump posted to Twitter.
The president has continuously downplayed the threat of coronavirus, even has the country’s top experts on immunology and infectious diseases claim the threat has reached ‘pandemic proportions.’
It’s likely he may have suggested people continue to go to work as the Stock Market faced its worse week since the 2008 financial crisis as concerns over coronavirus reached new heights.
The impact on the economy comes over concerns regarding international trade and companies closing several locations – including Starbucks and Apple closing hundreds of stores in China, where the virus originated.