Tag: Trump need to be right

CDC director tries to walk back remarks on coronavirus

The Hill logoCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield on Wednesday tried to temper remarks he made about the threat of a second wave of the novel coronavirus, saying the thrust of his comments was meant to urge Americans to embrace the vaccine for the flu.

“I didn’t say that this was going to be worse. I said it was going to be more difficult and potentially more complicated because we would have flu and coronavirus circulating at the same time,” Redfield said at the top of a White House briefing Wednesday evening.

The CDC director’s comments came hours after President Trump complained about a Washington Post report from Tuesday that included the top health official’s remarks, saying the CDC chief would make a clarifying statement. Continue reading.

Trump’s eruption at an NBC reporter says it all about his alternate reality on coronavirus

Washington Post logoUpdate: Trump’s campaign issued a release Saturday attacking Alexander, even as Trump and the coronavirus task force began their briefing. The release accuses Alexander of arguing there is no “magic drug” for coronavirus, when in fact Alexander was quoting Dr. Fauci saying that.

President Trump on Friday excoriated an NBC reporter for pressing him on whether he was being overly optimistic about the government’s ability to deliver drugs to treat the coronavirus. But the exchange epitomized just how out of tune Trump is with actual developments and his top health officials.

At the daily news briefing, Trump played up the promise of a malaria drug to possibly treat the coronavirus. He was asked about its application to other similar diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome, for which he said he thought the drug had been “fairly effective.”

But then Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading immunologist, stepped in to qualify things. Continue reading.