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His remarks came on the same day that new infections passed 50,000 for the first time.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday in an interview with news channel Fox Business that he hopes the coronavirus will "sort of just disappear" on its own.
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As several states, including Texas and California, reversed some of their reopenings steps due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, Trump praised May's record retail sales and insisted that "we're headed back in a very strong fashion."
"I think we're gonna be very good with the coronavirus," he said. "I think that at some point that's going to sort of just disappear, I hope."
Trump’s remarks came on the same day that new infections passed 50,000 for the first time since the outbreak in the U.S.
Exactly 52,982 new Covid-19 cases were reported Wednesday, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project. Over 2.7 million people have been infected in the U.S. while at least 128,000 have died.
Trump ludicrously claimed to Fox Business just now that "I think we're gonna be very good with the coronavirus. I think that at some point that's going to sort of just disappear, I hope." (The virus will not disappear on its own.) pic.twitter.com/ZkLtjKUEDu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 1, 2020
Democratic Senator of Washington and ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Patty Murray, condemned Trump’s comments.
"These reckless statements are false, and coming from the president, they are dangerous," she said.
In his testimony Tuesday before the Senate HELP Committee, Anthony Fauci -who is currently leading the White House Coronavirus Task Force- rejected the notion that the pandemic will vanish any time soon and said he "would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 [new cases] a day if this does not turn around."
"We're going to continue to be in a lot of trouble, and there's going to be a lot of hurts if that does not stop," Fauci warned, urging everyone to wear face coverings in public settings and backing a proposal by Senator Bernie Sanders to distribute masks for free in the U.S.
"I am not satisfied with what's going on because we are going in the wrong direction if you look at the curves of the new cases, so we've really got to do something about that and we need to do it quickly," Fauci said.
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