Coronavirus: Reopening economy will cost more lives, says Donald Trump

President Donald Trump has conceded that more Americans will die in reopening the US economy.

US President Donald Trump stays mask-free as he tours a Honeywell factory producing N95 masks in Arizona. Picture: AFP

President Donald Trump has conceded that more Americans will die in reopening the US economy but underlined his insistence on a dwindling corona­virus threat by refusing to wear a mask, even as he toured a mask-making factory.

Asked whether a lifting of ­social-distancing measures and reopening of the economy would lead to higher death tolls, Mr Trump said: “It’s possible there will be some, because you won’t be locked into an apartment or a house or whatever it is.”

He was at the Honeywell factory in Phoenix, Arizona, which he visited on his first major trip since the COVID-19 lockdown began.

“Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open.”

Mr Trump’s re-election campaign is reeling from the massive shutdown ordered to try to stop the spread of the virus, which has already killed 71,000 Americans and is forecast to take tens of thousands more lives.

Praising the Honeywell workers, who churn out masks used by medical staff and other first ­responders, Mr Trump reiterated that it was time to look ahead. “I want to be a cheerleader,” he said.

Bolstering that shift of direction, the White House said the President’s emergency co-ordination group for the pandemic would be disbanding, probably within the next month.

Taskforce co-ordinator Deborah Birx said the team would “keep a close eye on the data”, as the group watched outbreaks in ­Chicago and Des Moines, Iowa, as points of concern.

The focus was now on therapeutics, vaccines and addressing infection hot spots, a taskforce members said.

Mr Trump’s audience at Honey­well was masked in compliance with US government recom­mendations and their company rule, clearly displayed on a sign in the facility reading: “Please wear your mask at all times.”

The fact Mr Trump skipped the ­opportunity to make a statement about safety was in line with his new focus on getting Americans to return to work. And he has been sceptical about masks.

White House medical experts and even first lady Melania Trump promote masks as a crucial tool in fighting the viral spread.

 

The President has used his visibility to downplay the need. “I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know,” he said in April. “Somehow, I don’t see it for myself.”

Vice-President Mike Pence was forced to admit he was wrong when he caused an uproar a week ago after being photographed mask-less during a visit to the Mayo ­Clinic hospital in Minnesota.

As political pressure intensified to relax restrictions, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the debate ultimately boiled down to the value placed on people’s lives.

“How much is a human life worth?” he asked at his daily press briefing on Tuesday.

“That’s the real discussion that no one is admitting openly or freely. But we should.”

As other states begin lifting ­restrictions, Mr Cuomo is opting for a slower approach that will allow parts of the state to phase in economic activity later this month if they meet and maintain a series of benchmarks.

“The faster we re-open, the lower the economic cost — but the higher the human cost, because the more lives lost,” he said.

“That, my friends, is the ­decision we are really making.”

AP, AFP, Reuters