Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said schools might temporarily close in the United States because of the coronavirus.
Mulvaney, 52, spoke about the Trump administration’s plans to respond to the threat of COVID-19 at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday morning.
“Is it real? It absolutely is real,” Mulvaney said. “But you saw the president the other day — the flu is real. Are you going to see some schools shut down? Probably. May you see impacts on public transportation? Sure,” he continued. “We know how to handle this.”
As coronavirus spreads across the globe, Japan announced this week that schools in the country would be closed through March to reduce the risk of spreading the illness among children and teachers.
The White House official also criticized the media for their coverage of the outbreak.
“We took extraordinary steps four or five weeks ago. Why didn’t we hear about it? What was going on four or five weeks ago? Impeachment. And that’s all the press wanted to talk about. So while real news was happening and we were dealing with it in a way, I think that you would be extraordinarily proud of,” he said.
“The reason they are paying so much attention to it today is that they think this is going to bring down the president, that’s what this is all about,” Mulvaney added.
Mulvaney’s criticism of the media came two days after the president announced Vice President Mike Pence would lead the administration’s response to the outbreak. The decision to put Pence in charge prompted backlash from Democrats.
The virus has infected about 82,400 people worldwide, and at least 2,800 people have died, mostly in mainland China. So far, there have been a few dozen coronavirus cases identified in the United States, and no deaths have been reported.
