President Donald Trump on Wednesday raged about the coverage of CDC Director Robert Redfield’s interview with The Washington Post, where the medical expert warned about the dangers of a second wave of the coronavirus.
Trump brought Redfield to the White House podium to repudiate the interview only for the CDC director to confirm the newspaper correctly quoted his warning.
The farce took place at the daily White House press briefing on the coronavirus and was sparked by Redfield telling The Washington Post that a second wave of the coronavirus this winter, combined with flu season, ‘will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through.’
The newspaper ran the interview under the headline: ‘CDC director warns second wave of coronavirus is likely to be even more devastating.’
Trump was furious at the coverage of Redfield’s comments – several news outlets, including DailyMail.com, wrote stories on the CDC director’s warning – calling the articles ‘inaccurate.’ He snapped at reporters who asked about the warning and whether Redfield was accurately quoted.
President Donald Trump brought CDC Director Robert Redfield to the White House podium to repudiate an interview he gave to The Washington Post
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the Washington Post accurately quoted him in their interview but said the headline on the story was ‘inappropriate’
President Donald Trump was visibly angry at the media coverage of Redfield’s remarks
The president brought Redfield before the White House press corp to explain what he said in the interview, only for the CDC director to confirm he was accurately quoted. Redfield did say the headline on the Post’s story was ‘inappropriate.’
‘I think it’s really important to emphasize what I didn’t say,’ Redfield said. ‘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.’
Trump then jumped in to complain his CDC director was misquoted.
‘He was totally misquoted. He said they could come together, they didn’t talk about that and his whole purpose in making the statement was to get a flu shot so that next fall, we don’t have such a big season of flu and we possibly won’t,’ the president said.
Redfield went on to clarify what he said in his interview with The Post, which was also essentially what he told the newspaper.
‘Next fall and winter, we are going to have two viruses circulating and we are going to have to distinguish between which is flu and which is coronavirus – the spirit of the comment that I made is more difficult. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be worse, it’s just going to be more difficult because we have to distinguish between the two,’ he said.
Redfield’s warning in the interview with The Post was clear and essentially what he said in the briefing.
‘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,’ he told the newspaper. ‘And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.’
‘We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,’ is what he told The Post.
CDC director Robert Redfield said he was warning the winter could be difficult if a second wave of coronavirus and the flu season hit at the same time
President Donald Trump said the coronavirus may not come back at all
But Dr. Anthony Fauci repudiated what President Trump said, saying he was ‘convinced’ the coronavirus would come back this fall
ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked Redfield at the White House briefing if he was accurately quoted.
‘I’m accurately quoted in The Washington Post as difficult, but the headline was inappropriate,’ Redfield said.
Karl read the headline: ‘The headline says CDC director warned second wave of coronavirus is likely to be even more devastating.’
President Trump stepped to say: ‘That’s not what he said.’
Another reporter asked Redfield why he retweeted The Washington Post article.
‘You weren’t called on,’ Trump told the reporter.
The president then took the podium back to declare the coronavirus may not come back this winter.
‘It might not come back at all. He’s talking about a worst-case scenario where you have a big flu and you have some Corona,’ Trump said.
He added if it did return ‘it’s not going to be like it was. We have much better containment now, before nobody knew about it. Now if we have a little pocket here, we’re going to have it put out, we’re going to put it out fast. It’s also possible it doesn’t come back at all.’
But Dr. Anthony Fauci repudiated what Trump said, saying he was ‘convinced’ the coronavirus would come back this fall.
‘What Dr. Redfield was saying, first of all, is that we will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced of that,’ he said during his turn at the podium.
‘What happens with that will depend on how we are able to contain it when it occurs. What we are saying is that in the fall, we will be much, much better prepared to do the kind of containment compared to what happened to us this winter,’ he noted.
He added that ‘it’s going to get complicated by the influenza season. I believe that’s what Dr. Redfield was saying. It’s going to be complicated. So whether or not it’s going to be big or small is going to depend on our response. And that’s what I think people sometimes have misunderstanding. Nobody can predict what is going to happen within outbreak, but you can predict how you’re going to respond to it.’
The White House was quick to react after The Post published its interview with Redfield, complaining his quotes were misinterpreted.
New White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said he was advising people to get a flu shot.
‘I was on the phone with him just before I walked out here. The main stream media has been taking him out of context as they so often do with Trump administration officials. What he was trying to say was this: Everyone get your flu shot,’ she told Fox News Wednesday in an interview conducted from the White House.
‘That’s what he was saying but leave it to CNN and some of the other networks to really take those comments out of context,’ she added.
New White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claims the media took out of context comments CDC Director Robert Redfield about a second coronavirus wave
Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Washington Post that a second wave of coronavirus – combined with flu season – could overwhelm hospitals
Redfield retweeted the Washington Post’s tweet about his interview with the paper
Redfield told The Washington Post in an interview on Tuesday that a second wave of the coronavirus, combined with the regular flu season, could be devastating for the country.
CNN and other news outlets wrote up his comments given their high news value and interest to the public.
The White House, however, has pushed back at what he said.
President Donald Trump also claimed Redfield’s quote was taken out of context.
‘CDC Director was totally misquoted by Fake News @CNN on Covid 19. He will be putting out a statement,’ the president tweeted.
Redfield ended up coming to the daily press briefing at the White House instead of putting out a statement.
His warning in the interview with the Post was clear.
‘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,’ he said. ‘And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.’
‘We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,’ he said.
Redfield also retweeted the Washington Post’s tweet on his interview, which contained the headline: ‘CDC director warns second wave of coronavirus this winter will be worse.’
In the interview, he warned the dual trenches of illness could overwhelm the healthcare system. The United States has more than 822,000 cases of the coronavirus and more than 45,000 deaths.
And Redfield reiterated ‘the enormous impact’ social distancing has ‘had on this outbreak in our nation’.
He said guidance for reopening states ‘will be in the public domain shortly.’
The CDC is looking to hire more staff, Redfield said, as ‘contact tracers’.
President Trump also claimed the CDC director’s comments were taken out of context and said he would put out a statement
They alert people who may have come in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus so they can self-quarantine or be tested themselves.
But Redfield also urged Americans to get the flu vaccination which ‘may allow there to be a hospital bed available for your mother or grandmother that may get coronavirus.’
He said that if flu and corona had peaked at same time ‘it could have been really, really, really, really difficult in terms of health capacity.’