President Trump exhibited a more serious tone during the Saturday coronavirus news briefing, making more public health recommendations than promises that the outbreak is on its way out.
“I just want to thank everybody, I think the representation has been very fair for the most part,” Trump said. “We’re all in this together.”
After weeks of criticism for downplaying the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, Trump gave pragmatic recommendations during Saturday’s press briefing at the White House, following his team’s lead in reminding people to wash their hands vigorously and to distance themselves from others. He even apologized for shaking hands with so many people in the midst of a rapidly worsening outbreak.
“We all will solve this problem, we’ll solve it well,” Trump said. “I think the American people have been incredible in the way they’ve acted.”
Trump sought to reduce widespread panic about two weeks ago when he said that few people would be affected by the virus, which has now infected about 2,500 people in the United States. As the number of cases around the country mounted and the death toll rose, Trump continued to praise the work of his administration’s health experts and Vice President Mike Pence, who became the coronavirus task force’s chief spokesman.
“When you have 15 people, and the 15, within a couple of days, is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done,” Trump said on Feb. 26.
Trump’s net approval rating fell two points, from -8.9 on Feb. 24 to -10.8 on Wednesday, according to FiveThirtyEight, and his statement Wednesday night about halting flights from Europe in an effort to keep new coronavirus cases out was criticized for stoking more panic about the virus.
But on Saturday, Trump struck a unifying tone, assuring the press that his administration is “incredible” and “working 20 hours a day … or maybe more.” He also said that “frankly, it’s fine” that consumers are stocking up for potential quarantine.
The president has said in the past that he doesn’t feel a need to take the test, claiming White House doctors told him that because he wasn’t exhibiting symptoms, it wasn’t necessary. In an abrupt reversal, he announced Saturday that he took the coronavirus test Friday night and is awaiting results.
Members of the coronavirus team have been saying for weeks that the outbreak will worsen, and Trump’s tone Saturday reflected that message.
Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, warned Saturday that “we have not reached our peak.”
“Now, we will see more cases, and we will see more suffering and death, predominantly, as the vice president said, among the vulnerables in our society, the individuals with the conditions that we spoke to and the elderly,” Fauci said.
