WASHINGTON (AP) — President Trump again is understating the dangers of the coronavirus it, as nearly 3 million people have been infected and more than 132,000 died of it in the U.S.
In his latest of false statements about the pandemic, Trump declared that 99% of cases of Covid-19 cases are harmless. That flies in the face of science and of the reality that the U.S. death rate is 4.4%. Trump also dismissed the need for breathing machines.
Throughout the pandemic, Trump has declared it under control in the United States, though it never has been. Here are some of his remarks on that subject and more from the past week.
Virus threat
TRUMP: "Now we have tested over 40 million people. But by so doing, we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless." — Fourth of July remarks Saturday
THE FACTS: This statement does not reflect the suffering of millions of Covid-19 patients.
The World Health Organization, for one, has said about 20% of those diagnosed with COVID-19 progress to severe disease, including pneumonia and respiratory failure. Whatever the numbers turn out to be, it's clear that the threat is not limited to 1% of those who get the disease. The U.S. death rate alone belies that. With 2,983,142 U.S. infections reported as of early Monday, and 132,571, the U.S. death rate for Covid-19 is 4.44%
In addition, people with mild or no symptoms also can spread the virus to others who are more vulnerable.
Asked Sunday to defend Trump's claim, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn declined to do so. He urged Americans not to back off the federal government's public health measures urging social distancing and wearing a mask.
"What I'll say is that we have data in the White House task force," Hahn told CNN's "State of the Union." "Those data show us that this is a serious problem. People need to take it seriously."
___
TRUMP: "Our tremendous Testing success gives the Fake News Media all they want, CASES. In the meantime, Deaths and the all important Mortality Rate goes down. ... Anybody need any Ventilators???" — tweet Saturday
THE FACTS: No, increased testing does not fully account for the rise in cases. People are also infecting each other more than before as distancing rules recede and community spread picks up. The percentage of tests that come up positive is increasing in many states, as well as the raw numbers, again disproving Trump’s false claim. And as cases surge, so has demand for ventilators once again in parts of the United States.
"One of the things is an increase in community spread, and that's something that I'm really quite concerned about," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, testified Tuesday.
Adm. Brett Giroir, the Health and Human Services official overseeing the nation's coronavirus testing efforts, told Congress on Thursday that the increases can't be explained by just additional testing. "We do believe this is a real increase in cases because of the percent positives are going up," he said.
For example, the latest rolling seven-day average of new infections in the United States is 15 per 100,000. But in Arizona the average has hit 50 per 100,000 and in Florida 40 per 100,000. Both are new hot spots whose governors lifted restrictions too early.
In areas of the U.S., the demand for ventilators is approaching the highs seen in April. For instance, the number of patients requiring ventilators in Miami-Dade County has increased from 61 two weeks ago to 158 on Saturday, according to Miami-Dade figures posted by the county online. The highest number of patients on ventilators was 198, on April 9.
As for Trump's claim about mortality coming down, Fauci said that is not a relevant measure of what is happening in the moment with infections. "Deaths always lag considerably behind cases," he said. "It is conceivable you may see the deaths going up."
