Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump’s top economic advisor, is falsely claiming the U.S. has “contained” the coronavirus, literally minutes after reports broke that the CDC is warning of a spread of the deadly virus that has killed 2600 people, mostly in China.
The U.S. has 53 confirmed cases as of Monday, according to the World Health Organization.
“We have contained this. I won’t say ‘air-tight,’ but it’s pretty close to air-tight,” Kudlow said on CNBC, where he worked as a financial analyst and TV host before Trump hired him to be his Director of the National Economic Council.
“There will be some stumbles. We’re looking at numbers; it’s a little iffy,” Kudlow continued, referring to the economic, not human impact. “But at the moment, the numbers that we’re looking at … there’s no supply disruptions out there yet.” Kudlow did classify the human toll as tragic.
The DOW has dropped over 1800 points this week, in less than two full days of trading so far as a result of coronavirus fears.
Many on social media said the administration put Kudlow out to minimize the economic damage, after the CDC warned the American public earlier today that “we expect we will see community spread in the United States” of the coronavirus. The CDC also added: “It’s not a question of if this will happen but when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses.”
“We are asking the American public to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad,” a top CDC official said.
Here’s what one emergency/trauma radiologist and health policy/economics professor says:
Even this CNBC anchor disputes his former colleague’s comments:
On social media many are furious about Kudlow’s coverup.