MSNBC host Joe Scarborough sounded off on Republicans for presenting economic arguments during the coronavirus pandemic.
Scarborough criticized television hosts Dr. Mehmet Oz and Phil McGraw, known as Dr. Phil, and Republicans for posing economic arguments about state shutdowns during the coronavirus outbreak during Friday’s episode of Morning Joe.
McGraw, who holds a doctorate in psychology but is not a licensed psychologist, compared the death toll of the virus to smoking, automobile accidents, and swimming pool accidents on Thursday, but said that “we don’t shut the country down for that.” Oz also cited an article on Fox News that said reopening schools would lead to a 2% to 3% mortality rate increase, explaining later his intention was not to endorse the policy.
“That’s an argument that’s been made. You heard Dr. Oz make it, he later backtracked. You heard Dr. Phil make it,” Scarborough began, saying they echo economic arguments from Trump “apologists.”
“The party of life suddenly is fine with very high mortality rate, because I guess it’s getting in the way of, you know — taking care of people’s health is getting in the way of the bottom line.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 480,000 people die each year from smoking in the United States, but the other statistics shared by McGraw were widely inflated.
The National Safety Council, a nonprofit organization, estimated there were 38,800 deaths from automobile accidents in 2019. According to the CDC, approximately 3,500 people have died from unintentional pool drownings from 2005 to 2014.
“But yet, we are doing it for this, and the fallout is going to last for years because people’s lives are being destroyed,” McGraw said.
Of those tested for the coronavirus, more than 2.2 million people have been found positive across every continent except Antarctica. At least 148,000 deaths have been associated with the virus, and more than 565,000 patients have recovered.
In the U.S., there have been at least 686,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, and approximately 3,423,034 people have been tested, according to the latest reading of the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
