The White House has doubled down on US President Donald Trump’s claim that 99 per cent of coronavirus cases are “completely safe”.
Mr Trump made that rather contentious assertion during his remarks on Self-reliance Day over the weekend.
“We got struck by the virus that originated from China. And we’ve made a great deal of progress. Our technique is moving along well,” Mr Trump said.
“It goes out in one location, and raises back its unsightly face in another location. However we have actually discovered a lot. We’ve found out how to put out the flame.
“We have evaluated over 40 million individuals. By so doing, we reveal cases, 99 per cent of which are completely harmless.”
The President left his meaning of “harmless” open to analysis.
Specialists presumed he was referring to the infection’s death rate. The US has actually recorded three million infections, with a death toll of 132,784 Do the maths and you get a death rate of 4.4 per cent, but the true portion is likely significantly lower, due to the unknown number of individuals infected with the disease who reveal no signs and never ever get tested.
If those people were included in the statistics, the mortality rate would drop.
Is the genuine rate more like 1 per cent? Possibly. We don’t understand. But it’s the number Mr Trump is going with.
His claim that the infection was “completely safe” for the other 99 per cent of patients was swiftly derided as “outrageous” and a “amazing lie” in parts of the United States media.
“The President was saying even with the spikes in cases, 99 per cent of the cases are ‘absolutely safe’. Now, I’m not a physician, however I understand a bit about mathematics,” stated Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto.
“So I was taking a look at the 2.7 million cases we have and the 5 percent death rate associated with that. Hospitalisations closer to a 10 percent rate. And hospitalisation rates for those with breathing issues about a 9 percent clip.
“Bottom line, I do not develop 99 per cent of cases (being) completely harmless.”
Cavuto’s visitor, Dr Qanta Ahmed, pointed out that some individuals who make it through the infection suffer long-lasting damage to their lungs.
Questioned on numerous TELEVISION networks the other day, the Commissioner of America’s Food and Drug Administration would neither protect nor contradict Mr Trump.
“I’m not going to get into who is best and who is wrong,” Dr Stephen Hahn stated.
Today, however, government authorities were more willing to back up the President’s claim.
“Where did he get that stat from? Is that a generalisation?” Fox News early morning host Brian Kilmeade asked White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
“No, I do not even know that it’s a generalisation,” Mr Meadows said.
“When you begin to look at the statistics and take a look at all the numbers we have, the quantity of screening that we have, the large majority of people are safe from this.
“When you take a look at the deaths that we have, if you’re over 80 years of age or if you have three, what they call comorbidities– diabetes, hypertension, heart concerns– then you need to be really, really mindful.
“Outside of that, the threats are incredibly low, and the President is ideal with that, and the truths and statistics back us up there.”
Florida Guv Ron DeSantis, a Republican, made the exact same point.
“I’m not reducing it, but I believe we ought to also have a correct perspective,” Mr DeSantis told reporters.
“When we entered into this, there were individuals saying that a 20- year-old was simply as at threat as a 90- year-old. Which’s simply not true. We understand where the danger is. We understand the comorbidities that are impacted.
“The number one age for cases in Florida is21 And if you’re 21 and you do not have considerable comorbidities, your death rate is pretty much zero.
“From a scientific point of view, a thousand cases under the age of 30 is going to be less significant than 50 cases in a long-term care facility. That’s simply the way this infection works. It’s very much dependent on the age and the comorbidities.”
At today’s White Home media rundown, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked to explain precisely what Mr Trump meant.
“The President stated that 99 percent of coronavirus cases are ‘completely harmless’. Which members of the White Home Coronavirus Task Force agree with that statement?” a reporter asked.
“So what the President was pointing to– and I’m grateful you brought it up– was an accurate declaration, one that is rooted in science, and one that was mentioning the truth that mortality in this nation is very low,” Ms McEnany said.
She provided 2 charts, the very first demonstrating how the US death rate had declined in time, and the second comparing its rate favourably to some European countries.
For the record, the United States has the world’s ninth-highest rate of coronavirus deaths per capita. The only nations doing even worse on that step are France, Sweden, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Andorra, Belgium and the small republic of San Marino.
“Just to follow up rapidly however, so if you don’t pass away, is it not harmless?” the reporter pressed.
“The President was noting the reality that the large majority of Americans who contract coronavirus will come out on the other side of this,” Ms McEnany said.
“Naturally, nobody wants to see anyone in this nation agreement Covid, which is why the administration has actually fought tough to ensure that’s not the case with our historical response effort.”
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