Trump Issues Stark COVID-19 Warning
Alana Wise, reporting for NPR:
President Trump took to the White House briefing room on Tuesday to praise his administration's response to the virus that has killed more than 140,000 Americans so far. In a reversal of his recent statements and tone, he acknowledged the severity of the pandemic and urged Americans to comply with preventative measures.
"It will likely unfortunately get worse before it gets better," Trump said in uncharacteristically somber remarks, encouraging Americans to social distance, practice good hygiene and wear masks.
The president said his administration is in the process of developing a strategy for the coming months, including developing treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.
Trump — who has mostly cast mask usage as a personal choice and declined to wear one himself — urged people to wear face masks, citing a spike of cases in the Sun Belt in recent weeks.
"Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact," he said.
Is this a realization that their plan of ignoring the pandemic and hoping it will disappear was not only stupid and ineffective, but costing them support? Is it just an attempt to correct course for their political strategy? I truly hope so, becuause if it’s the result of some new discovery about the virus, we should be scared. What could the administration have learned that would caused Trump to change his tone so suddenly and drastically?