In two other posts, he also said:
“CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus, including the very early closing of our borders to certain areas of the world. It was opposed by the Dems, ‘too soon’, but turned out to be the correct decision. No matter how well we do, however, the Democrats talking point is that we are doing badly. If the virus disappeared tomorrow, they would say we did a really poor, and even incompetent, job. Not fair, but it is what it is. So far, by the way, we have not had one death. Let’s keep it that way!”
At a news conference, Mr. Trump was asked about his previous criticisms of the Obama administration’s handling of Ebola in 2014. He responded: “At that time, nobody had ever even heard of Ebola or ever conceived of something where you basically — the people would disintegrate. And we’re still working on Ebola.” He went on saying, “The level of death with Ebola — you know, at the time, it was a virtual hundred percent.”
This was exaggerated. Ebola got its name from a 1976 outbreak. The average fatality rate is around 50 percent, but has ranged from 27 percent in Sierra Leone during the 2014 to 2016 outbreak to 88 percent in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, while the coronavirus can be transmitted more easily, through close contact or droplets from sneezes and coughs.
Feb. 26
Cases are confirmed in more than 30 countries. Vice President Mike Pence is given the job of leading the coronavirus response in the U.S.
At a news conference at the White House, Mr. Trump addressed Democratic criticism of his response:
“We should all be working together,” he said. He added: “All they’re trying to do is get a political advantage. This isn’t about political advantage. We’re all trying to do the right thing. They shouldn’t be saying: ‘This is terrible. President Trump isn’t asking for enough money.’ How stupid a thing to say. If they want to give us more money, that’s OK.”
The president responded to whether U.S. schools should prepare for the virus:
“I think every aspect of our society should be prepared. I don’t think it’s going to come to that, especially with the fact that we’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up. But, yeah, I think schools should be preparing and, you know, get ready just in case.” He added: “We have it so well under control. I mean, we really have done a very good job.”
His claim about cases “going very substantially down” was false and contradicted what the secretary of health and human services and a top official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said moments earlier in the same news conference: that they expected “more cases.”