Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, falsely claimed on Friday that the coronavirus "is contained" in the US. Another senior Trump official, counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, made a similar though slightly less definitive claim, saying that the virus "is being contained."
Facts First: Experts say the US has not come close to containing the coronavirus. They also say the small number of tests conducted in the United States so far has prevented the government from getting an accurate picture of how widespread the virus truly is.
"In the US it is the opposite of contained," said Harvard University epidemiology professor Marc Lipsitch, director of Harvard's Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. "It is spreading so efficiently in so many places that it may be difficult to stop."
"In my scientific opinion and based on the available information, the situation is not contained," said Aubree Gordon, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan.
"As many states in the US report an increasing number of cases, I do not believe it would be accurate to say that COVID-19 is contained globally or in the US," said Jennifer Horney, professor and founding director of the epidemiology program at the University of Delaware.
TheGhosticus on March 8th, 2020 at 09:36 UTC »
Uh, we just had a press conference here in Illinois about a Teacher's Aide who contracted Corona on a cruise, and returned to work for almost a week before it was discovered. That is NOT contained.
KniGht1st on March 8th, 2020 at 07:36 UTC »
why tf is an economist saying this?
bobberthumada on March 8th, 2020 at 06:00 UTC »
Ya... about as contained as michael bay in a firework factory.