Breaking News: COVID-19 is "Deadly Stuff"
- fionacsweet
- Sep 9, 2020
- 2 min read
According to Bob Woodward's new book, President Donald Trump acknowledged the dangers of this global pandemic in a February interview with the journalist, and also acknowledged downplaying the threat in a March interview with the same man.
He said this: “I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don't want to create a panic," Trump said in a March 19 call with Woodward, according to an audio clip posted Wednesday on The Washington Post's website. The newspaper obtained a copy of his book "Rage," which is scheduled to be released next week. Trump also admitted that the disease was more deadly than he previously thought it was. "Now it's turning out it's not just old people, Bob. But just today, and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It's not just old, older," Trump said, according to an audio clip, and then added, "young people too, plenty of young people."
Trump, speaking to reporters today, said that he had been trying to avoid "panic" by downplaying the situation, and that this method was showing "leadership." He said that "we have to show calm. Certainly I'm not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy. We don't want to go around screaming, 'Look at this, look at this.'"
In the February phone interview with Woodward, Trump said the virus was "deadly stuff" and that "you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed...and so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu."
So it's great to know that the President is actually aware of the danger that the virus poses. The problem here is that in trying not to make a frenzy, he actually made a worse frenzy. Not giving his citizens good information and trying to downplay the virus lost so many more lives and spread around so much bad info. We should be screaming "look at this, look at this" because we need to be aware of what is going on.
The best way to create a panic is to be misinformed. For example, when everyone flew into a panic about toilet paper and no one could keep toilet paper in stock for more than 5 minutes because people were hoarding it. That panic was created off of misinformation - the United States never had a problem with toilet paper shortage in the first place and it isn't an item that stops coronavirus spread, so there is no reason to stockpile it at all.
If Trump hadn't downplayed this, we would not have such a high death toll. Colleges and universities wouldn't be having outbreaks. We could have opened safer. I cannot stress how frustrated I am by this new news; he knew the danger, he understood the danger, and he still watched us die.
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