The health crisis in the United States will worsen before getting better, President Trump said during his first Covid-19 briefing in months.
After months of downplaying the importance of facial coverage, the President shifted his message to the nation, advising Americans to wear masks whenever possible.
The President himself rarely wears protective face masks in public, including yesterday. However, he pulled one from his pocket but did not put it on.
Leading US health experts have pleaded with the Americans to wear masks in public, and whenever social distancing is not possible, calling it ”life-saving.”
The speech was a noticeable shift from his latest coronavirus claims last month. He previously said that the virus is ”fading away” and ”dying out.” Moreover, he also dismissed its remnants as ”embers.”
Despite the policy shift, the health experts did not join Trump during the briefing yesterday evening as he kept the podium to himself. Still, half a year after the novel virus was first diagnosed on US soil, Trump stated that his administration is ”developing a strategy” to combat the disease. The message comes after months of casting that the US response to pandemic was one of the best worldwide.
Almost four million Americans have contracted the virus so far though data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that their actual number could be ten times greater.
For the first time since May, the United States recorded more than 1,000 daily deaths from Covid-19, President said at the beginning of his prepared remarks. He also admitted that more than 140,000 fellow Americans lost their lives to the novel virus so far.
The President expressed his condolences to all the US families affected by the crisis, highlighting that we should develop a vaccine for the virus to honor those who lost the battle.
During his speech, Donald Trump has repeated that the coronavirus vaccine is on the way and it will be avaiable ”earlier than thought.” However, the White House health officials have always been cautious not to make promises about a specific time frame for an efficient vaccine.
The President never mentioned the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which has previously touted as an effective coronavirus treatment for Covid-19. Several clinical trials proved it to be ineffective in the battle with the virus.
What do you think? Do you agree with the President’s statement that the coronavirus crisis in the United States will get worse?