President Donald Trump expressed confidence that the coronavirus won’t hit the U.S. with the same intensity if it returns in the fall, suggesting the deadly disease “might not come back at all.”
Trump’s assertion Wednesday at a White House briefing is at odds with medical experts who say the virus could pose a threat to the U.S. for months and years to come. He made the comment after accusing the Washington Post of mischaracterizing a warning to that effect from Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’re going to be watching for it. But it’s also possible it doesn’t come back at all,” Trump said. If Covid-19 does return, it “won’t be coming back in the form that it was” but in “smaller doses we can contain.”
Asked how he could be certain, Trump said, “I didn’t say it’s not. I said if it does, it’s not going to come back on anything near what we went through.”
27,639 in U.S.Most new cases today
-18% Change in MSCI World Index of global stocks since Wuhan lockdown, Jan. 23
-1.131 Change in U.S. treasury bond yield since Wuhan lockdown, Jan. 23 -0.5% Global GDP Tracker (annualized), March