President Donald Trump on Monday accused Democrats of “fear mongering” in their criticism of his administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed two Americans.
"I was criticized by the Democrats when I closed the Country down to China many weeks ahead of what almost everyone recommended. Saved many lives," Trump tweeted on Monday. "Dems were working the Impeachment Hoax. They didn't have a clue! Now they are fear mongering. Be calm & vigilant!"
The Trump administration has insisted that fears of an epidemic are overblown. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC last week that the U.S. has “contained” the threat of an outbreak, saying it’s “pretty close to airtight.”
However, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Monday that the “beginning of community spread” in the U.S. is “really quite concerning,” and is “going to make our job much more challenging.”
He said, "I'm concerned that you're going to see a lot more cases. I mean, certainly when you have a number of cases that you've identified and they've been in the community for a while, you're going to wind up seeing a lot more cases than you would have predicted. So my concern is, as the next week or two or three go by, we're going to see a lot more community-related cases. And that's of great concern."