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 The numbers in the coronavirus outbreak in the United States are
increasingly not going his way, but that has not stopped him from
portraying them largely as a sign of success.
The United States had almost 550 confirmed cases of the respiratory
virus as of Sunday night and 22 related deaths. The count could rise
sharply as testing increases this week. More than 3,600 people have
died globally.
From suggesting more optimistic time lines for a potential vaccine
than scientists say is possible, to contradicting public health
officials on the potential for cases to increase, to questioning the
fatality rate cited by the World Health Organization, Trump has
sought to present figures related to the virus that appear more
favorable than reality.
While praising his team's work to combat the virus, the president,
who is seeking re-election in November, has repeatedly cited the
relatively low number of infected individuals in the United States
as proof of the success of his early ban on foreign nationals flying
in from China - where the coronavirus originated - compared with
actions taken in other countries with higher numbers of cases.
Critics say Trump's representation of the numbers related to the
spread of the disease is complicating the government's response.
"The focus on the numbers for numbers' sake just exposes ... they're
not looking around the next corner here," said Lisa Monaco, a former
homeland security adviser to former President Barack Obama. "They're
not preparing the public for what is going to be a substantial spike
in the number of cases that we see."
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Tom Bossert, a former homeland security adviser to Trump, said the
president deserved credit for having taken action early in what he
called the first phase of the response. The next step will be to
make sure the figures reflect the seriousness of the threat and spur
action to mitigate its risk of spreading.
"It's not so much about numbers as it is about framing those numbers
so that people can understand ... the effects these numbers are
going to have in real life," Bossert told Reuters.
"The coming weeks will tell whether we're able to effectively
communicate the seriousness of this outbreak such that public health
officials and elected leaders can take ... effective measures that
might be perceived as inconvenient to the people," he said.
RAMIFICATIONS
Trump suggested on Friday that he did not want infected Americans
stuck on a cruise ship near San Francisco to be let off the ship and
quarantined on land because it would increase the count of infected
people in the country. Health experts recommended the people
disembark.
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"They would like to have the people come off. I'd rather have the people stay,
but I'd go with them. I told them to make the final decision. I would rather,
because I like the numbers being where they are. I don't need to have the
numbers double because of one ship," Trump said.
Experts say Trump's focus on numbers could have dangerous ramifications, both by
overshadowing critical and accurate information about the severity of the
outbreak to the American public and by signaling to government workers they
should not explore or report the full extent of the problem.
"There is always a tendency in government to self-censor depending on what the
president would or would not go for,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior fellow at
the Center for Global Development, who helped lead the U.S. response to the
Ebola outbreak. By saying he wants to keep the numbers down, Trump is “signaling
what’s off the table,” to federal workers, he said.
Critics also cite a problem with mixed messages.
When Trump predicted that a vaccine for the coronavirus would be available in a
matter of months, a top adviser quickly corrected him.
The White House defended his approach, saying Trump sees his role as boosting
morale and giving people confidence that the crisis will recede.
"The president's job is to be the leader and to express calm and control. That's
what he's doing," one White House official said.
Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies, said Trump's ability to control the
situation and the numbers was limited.
"Pandemics don't really care what numbers people use. They just march on," he
said. "There are lots of other people out there counting what's going on and
increasingly ... getting extremely alarmed at the lack of preparedness for what
lies ahead."
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Heather
Timmons; Editing by Heather Timmons and Peter Cooney)
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