President Donald Trump has said that the country must start lifting restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
During an interview with ABC News’ David Muir on Tuesday night, Trump was asked if there will be more coronavirus deaths as the restrictions are lifted.
“It’s possible there will be some because you won’t be locked into an apartment or a house or whatever it is,” Trump said, adding, “But at the same time, we’re going to practice social distancing, we’re going to be washing hands, we’re going to be doing a lot of the things that we’ve learned to do over the last period of time.”
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BREAKING: Pres. Trump tells @DavidMuir "it's possible there will be some" deaths as states ease coronavirus restrictions, acknowledging it was the choice the U.S. faces to reopen the economy.
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 5, 2020
More tonight on @ABCWorldNews. https://t.co/FM7vzfraSn pic.twitter.com/f7Fmy00U1X
He continued, “We have to get our country back, you know people are dying the other way too. When you look at what’s happening with drugs — it goes up. When you look at suicides, I mean, take a look at what’s going on. People are losing their jobs. We have to bring it back, and that’s what we’re doing.”
“We can’t sit in the house for the next three years,” Trump said as he encouraged Americans to see themselves as “warriors.”
Additionally, he said that even if a vaccine for the coronavirus is not developed, “It’s going to pass.”
“There’ll be more death, that the virus will pass, with or without a vaccine. And I think we’re doing very well on the vaccines but, with or without a vaccine, it’s going to pass, and we’re going to be back to normal. But it’s been a rough process. There is no question about it.”
Trump’s comments come as new models on the coronavirus outbreak have predicted that 134,000 Americans could die by August because of the virus — roughly double what other models were predicting as late as last week.
Addressing those models, Trump said, “These models have been so wrong from day one. Both on the low side and the upside. They’ve been so wrong, they’ve been so out of whack. And they keep making new models, new models and they’re wrong.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said on Tuesday that more coronavirus deaths are the “cost” of reopening the country quickly, as IJR reported.