In spite of deeply held concerns from medical professionals and the business world alike, President Donald Trump appeared to mock the worries posed by the spread of COVID-19, or coronavirus, around the globe and within the United States.
After a tremendous drop in stocks on Monday morning, brought about by concerns of coronavirus in conjunction with an oil deal between OPEC nations that failed to materialize last week, Trump sought to blame those factors but dismissed as legitimate the worries of the former in a tweet he authored.
“Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the price and flow of oil. That, and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop!” Trump said.
Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the price and flow of oil. That, and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop!
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020
It’s believed that Trump’s use of the term “fake news” in this instance applied to media reports of coronavirus’ spread. As of Monday morning, the U.S. alone has seen 22 deaths from COVID-19 and more than 500 cases of the disease diagnosed in others.
Trump also implied in an earlier tweet that the oil economic wars set to commence between OPEC nations and others were “[g]ood for the consumer” as it would result in lower gas prices.
Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020
Finally, Trump tried to imply that coronavirus wasn’t anything to put serious worry into due to the fact that the flu kills tens of thousands of Americans each year.
So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020
“So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on,” Trump wrote.
But scientists and other health experts — including those who sit on Trump’s own coronavirus task force — have said any comparisons between coronavirus and influenza are inappropriate at this time.
As senior Live Science writer Rachael Retter explained in a recent post for that site:
“Scientists have studied seasonal flu for decades. So, despite the danger of it, we know a lot about flu viruses and what to expect each season. In contrast, very little is known about the new coronavirus and the disease it causes, dubbed COVID-19, because it’s so new. This means COVID-19 is something of a wild card in terms of how far it will spread and how many deaths it will cause.”
Rettner’s words are backed up by comments from Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and a member of Trump’s task force on the disease. During a press conference about coronavirus (which Trump himself even attended), Fauci stated that comparing the two diseases was the wrong way to go.
“Despite the morbidity and mortality with influenza, there’s a certainty…of seasonal flu,” Fauci explained. He went on to explain that “[t]he issue now with [COVID-19] is that there’s a lot of unknowns.”
Chris Walker is a freelance journalist based in Madison, Wisconsin, who focuses on news, politics, and analysis of world events. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, since 2005 Chris has reported on workers’ rights protests in Wisconsin, opined on four separate presidential elections and written on a number of other political subjects for a variety of national online publications.
