Trump either doesn’t understand how to curb pandemic or is promoting a false narrative, expert says
US President Donald Trump either doesn’t understand the two most effective tools for putting the pandemic down or he’s trying to promote a false narrative, says Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at George Washington University.
“The President of the United States doesn’t believe, apparently, in the two pillars of our pandemic response: the need to test and the need to wear face masks,” Reiner told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
Trump has refused to wear a mask in public and at meetings and events at the White House. He has also questioned the need for coronavirus testing.
“What he does not understand is that’s how we extinguish the virus,” Reiner said. “That’s how you get people to quarantine. We contact trace their contacts, they stay home. That’s how you drop the transmission of the virus.”
“By the same token, he doesn’t believe in face masks and we know now with certainty that’s the principal way we prevent person-to-person transmission outside the home,” he added.
Reiner questioned why the President doesn’t seem to understand the simple formula that has driven Covid-19 cases down in other countries.
“How is it that our chief pandemic officer, the President of the United States, doesn’t believe in the two most effective tools for putting the pandemic down? It’s either that he doesn’t understand, which raises unfathomable cognitive questions, or he’s trying to promote a false narrative that everything is fine and, you know, we all have our heads in the sand.”
