Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield attempted to clarify his recent remarks about a second coronavirus wave as President Donald Trump brought him on stage to do so.
Redfield recently told The Washington Post regarding the coronavirus, “There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through. When I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”
He also told the newspaper, “We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time.”
Though he explained that he was quoted accurately in the Post story, Redfield, as well as Trump, took up concern about the headline that the CDC chief “warns second wave of coronavirus is likely to be even more devastating.”
During Wednesday’s White House coronavirus press briefing, the president claimed that Redfield was “totally misquoted.” Trump then noted that Redfield was talking about the coronavirus and the flu “coming together at the same time” during the Post interview.
The president’s comments came after he sent a scorching tweet out on Wednesday.
CDC Director was totally misquoted by Fake News @CNN on Covid 19. He will be putting out a statement.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2020
Redfield also tried to clarify his remarks, saying at the press briefing, “I didn’t say that this was going to be worse. I said it was going to be more difficult and potentially more complicated because we will have flu and coronavirus circulating at the same time.”
“The key to my comments and the reason that I really wanted to stress them was to appeal to the American public to embrace the flu vaccine with confidence,” Redfield explained.
When asked by a reporter if he was quoted accurately in the Post article, Redfield responded, “I’m accurately quoted in ‘The Washington Post’ as difficult, but the headline was inappropriate.”
Watch the video below:
.@CDCDirector Dr. Robert Redfield: "I didn't say this was going to be worse. I said it was going to be more difficult and potentially complicated, because we'll have flu and Coronavirus circulating at the same time."
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 22, 2020
Full video here: https://t.co/EEGeKYqaYQ pic.twitter.com/YWuS6iSm4K
Additionally, Dr. Deborah Birx said during the press briefing regarding if a second wave would be worse, “I don’t know if it will be worse. I think this has been pretty bad. When you see what has happened in New York, that was very bad. I believe that we’ll have early warning signals.”
Though Redfield attempted to clarify his comments, he did, however, tweet out the Post article on Tuesday, without taking issue with its headline.
.@CDCgov will soon issue guidance for state and local governments on how they can ease #COVID19 mitigation efforts – moving from current guidance to a phased way to support a safe reopening of America. Read more in @washingtonpost: https://t.co/bWXgznaVcF
— Mandy K. Cohen, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) April 22, 2020
Redfield’s latest comments follow after he spoke on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on April 15 where he suggested it is “very likely” there will be “another wrestling match” with the coronavirus next year.
When asked if a second wave is “inevitable,” Redfield said, “I think we have to assume this is like other respiratory viruses, and there will be a seasonality to it.” However, he did say that there is no certainty of that.
“This virus is likely to follow seasonality patterns, similar to the flu, and we’re going to have another battle with it upfront, aggressively next winter,” he added.
FULL INTERVIEW: CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield speaks with @GStephanopoulos on the latest in the coronavirus pandemic battle and plans to re-open the United States. https://t.co/PrZRMwCBwK pic.twitter.com/v8eVXYX7o8
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 15, 2020
As of Thursday morning, there are more than 842,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S., leading the world in the most number of cases. According to a graph by Johns Hopkins, the U.S. is still on an upward trend in cases of the virus.