In his first coronavirus daily briefing in three months, President Donald Trump warned that the “vicious and dangerous” COVID-19 illness in the United States will get worse before it gets better.
July 22 (UPI) — In his first coronavirus daily briefing in three months, President Donald Trump warned that the “vicious and dangerous” COVID-19 illness in the United States will get worse before it gets better. He told reporters in the White Houe Tuesday in his first such coronavirus briefing since April that they have learned a great deal about the virus and were developing a strategy but that the situation may further deteriorate in the United States, the worst-hit country by COVID-19. “It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better — something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is,” the president said. “It’s what we have.” In a more controlled, somber and shorter conference absent the usual officials of his coronavirus task force than those previous, Trump told the public to wear a mask, a seemingly about-face after previously resisting to wear one himself. “Wear a mask. Get a mask,” he said. “Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact. They’ll have an effect. And we need everything we can get.” Since the first case was diagnosed in Washington State on Jan.21,3.9 million people in the country have been infected with COVID-19,142,000 of whom have since died to the virus, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Trump gave his last such televised news conference in April amid high though seemingly stabilizing daily infection numbers but they have since drastically and exponentially climbed as states moved to reopen their economies from lockdowns put in place in March to stymie the virus’ spread.
