CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday rebuked President Donald Trump and the members of his administration who are now reportedly questioning the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic. They are reportedly suggesting it is actually lower in a bid to fast-track the reopening of the economy.
The host of “Anderson Cooper 360” said he couldn’t think “of anything more offensive to a family than to have the death of their loved one, the reason for the death of their loved one, you know, rewritten by the White House or the administration in order for whatever political purpose that may be.”
“It’s so fundamentally wrong to do that,” he added.
CNN’s Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta had earlier told Cooper that Trump and some of his senior aides now felt “the number may be overcounted at this point.”
Acosta, citing a senior administration official, noted how “the grim death toll obviously guides their policy” and “they can’t be in as much of a hurry to reopen these states and schools and all other facets of daily life if those numbers are weighing down those decisions.”
More than 85,000 people have now died from the coronavirus in the U.S., more than any other country in the world. Public health experts believe, however, that the true death toll may actually be even higher due to inconsistencies in testing and reporting.
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