President Donald Trump used the example of car accidents to defend his call to “get our country open” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The president reiterated the need to get Americans back to work during his coronavirus task force press briefing at the White House on Monday.

Trump posited his approach to dealing with the outbreak amid calls for stricter measures and more restrictions to stem the spread of the virus which has been confirmed in over 46,000 cases across the nation and resulted in nearly 600 deaths as of Tuesday, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

The president’s remarks came after Dr. Deborah Birx spoke about the “curves” in the global pandemic, noting that every state will be at a different place in its timeline.

“It’s the charge that the president has given us, is to use all of our data analytics and all of our data inputs to really define those issues about where the virus is, where is it going and what predictions we can make and where we are in that bell-shaped curve,” Birx said.

Trump stepped to the microphone, noting that it was a “great definition” before addressing the country’s workforce and economy.

“We’re going to be watching our senior citizens very closely, we’re going to be watching certain hotspots like New York,” he said. “But at the same time, at a certain point, we have to get open and we have to get moving. We don’t want to lose these companies. We don’t want to lose these workers.”

Trump said something would be done “relatively quickly,” adding that “we’ve learned a lot during this period.”

“This was a very necessary period. Tremendous information was gained, but we can do two things at one time,” he added, going on to point to the number of deaths attributed to the flu season.

“We have a very active flu season, more active than most. It’s looking like it’s heading to 50,000 or more deaths — deaths, not cases. 50,000 deaths — which is, that’s a lot,” Trump told reporters.

“And you look at automobile accidents, which are far greater than any numbers we’re talking about. That doesn’t mean we’re going to tell everybody no more driving of cars,” he contended. “So we have to do things to get our country open.”

Though many of his own health experts are predicting it could – and should – be months before America can get back to business, Trump has been more openly pushing back on the narrative.

“Our country wasn’t built to be shut down. This is not a country that was built for this,” Trump insisted, as he predicted that “America will again and soon be open for business. Very soon. A lot sooner than three or four months that somebody was suggesting.”

The president repeated his argument that the coronavirus cure should not be worse than the disease itself, something he tweeted about over the weekend.

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2020

He made the point again on Tuesday in another tweet calling on Congress to act.

Our people want to return to work. They will practice Social Distancing and all else, and Seniors will be watched over protectively & lovingly. We can do two things together. THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM! Congress MUST ACT NOW. We will come back strong!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2020

“People get tremendous anxiety and depression, and you have suicides over things like this, when you have terrible economies. You have death,“ Trump said Monday, adding that “probably … definitely, it would be in far greater numbers than the numbers we“re talking about with regard to the virus.“

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Frieda Powers

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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