President Trump knew in early February the new coronavirus could be airborne and more deadly than the flu but wanted to play down the risk to avoid a panic, according to a forthcoming book by Bob Woodward.
“I wanted to always play it down,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Woodward on March 19, according to clips of their discussion posted by CNN. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
The book, titled “Rage,” and tapes from the author’s interviews suggest the president — who faces reelection Nov. 3 — kept the public in the dark during crucial weeks, as the virus spread within the U.S. before bursting into view in March.
Mr. Trump spent much of February saying the virus was under control and would go away. Upon returning from a trip to India, he told White House reporters on Feb. 25 that a handful of U.S. cases would go down to zero within days.
But the president outlined serious concerns around the virus in a Feb. 7 conversation with Mr. Woodward — even though the author expected the president to focus on the recent impeachment trial.
“We’ve got a little bit of an interesting setback with the virus going in China,” the president said.
“It goes through the air,” Mr. Trump said. “That’s always tougher than the touch. You don’t have to touch things. Right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”
More than a month later, on March 9, Mr. Trump compared the situation favorably to the flu in a tweet. He said the flu kills up to 70,000 per year and the coronavirus toll was much lower at that point.
The coronavirus has now killed close to 190,000.
