President Joe Biden is facing criticism after a major claim he made about the COVID-19 pandemic.
During an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that aired on Sunday, the president touched on the state of the pandemic in the country.
“The pandemic is over,” Biden said, adding, “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over.”
He went on, “If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it.”
Watch the video below:
“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over,” President Biden tells 60 Minutes in an interview in Detroit. https://t.co/7SixTE3OMT pic.twitter.com/s5fyjRpYuX
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022
While Biden may have hoped his pronouncement would be received well, it triggered an avalanche of criticism on Twitter from users who highlighted the daily death toll.
MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan tweeted, “One of the (many) reasons they’re not wearing masks is because people like Biden keep (falsely) telling them the pandemic is over.”
One of the (many) reasons they’re not wearing masks is because people like Biden keep (falsely) telling them the pandemic is over. https://t.co/fvwOvtBQbo
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) September 19, 2022
Kentucky state Rep. Attica Scott (D) tweeted, “‘My goodness these folks are clueless. It’s no wonder the party is a train wreck…’ is going to apparently be my tweet theme through November and beyond since democrats keep playing these games with our lives.
“You don’t get to just declare a global pandemic over, Mr. [Biden],” she added.
https://twitter.com/atticaforky/status/1571693826171109376
Check out some of the reactions below:
https://twitter.com/gregggonsalves/status/1571795318655651840
Man declares end of pandemic that’s killing 400 Americans per day during annual celebration of industry that’s killing 100 Americans per day https://t.co/AtS1fAP1Kb
— Alissa Walker (@awalkerinLA) September 19, 2022
This is incredibly disrespectful to the millions of people already suffering from #LongCovid and those who will suffer from it because of future #COVID19 infections.
— Cas Mudde (@CasMudde) September 19, 2022
Moreover, Long COVID will have massive debilitating effects on health care systems and state budgets for decades. https://t.co/KazzKPoxwu
https://twitter.com/ThatDangPhil/status/1571714207892279296
This is why no one except yahoos like me think the pandemic is over. The fu@king POTUS is telling you that it's over. People trust this guy, so if says it's over, it's over. Though there is no data to support this. People accept lies from people they trust. https://t.co/l3DVYYCzrp
— Shay Stewart Bouley (@blackgirlinmain) September 19, 2022
One president never believed there to be a pandemic in the first place and the other gaslights the public by declaring it over. I’ve never been more embarrassed to be an American. https://t.co/WY3BdVvDFT
— Chad Goldsmith (@ChadGoldsmith) September 19, 2022
Apparently Biden’s definition of “pandemic” is “people he can see are wearing masks and not in great shape”.
— Dr Ellie Murray, ScD (@EpiEllie) September 19, 2022
Honestly, if I were one of his science advisors I would be mortified that he still hasn’t understood the basic concept. https://t.co/zs01zMbF0k
Biden’s comments come as the U.S. is adding an average of 61,712 new Covid cases each day.