The White House is fighting to contain public fears over the coronavirus, according to The Washington Post.
The newspaper noted the coronavirus is spreading to more counties and the death toll is rising. The outbreak if wreaking havoc on global supply chains.
The Dow and the S&P 500 tumbled 3% on Tuesday in their fourth straight day of losses as investors tried to gauge the economic impact of the outbreak.
The Post, citing two sources, said President Donald Trump is furious about the stock market’s losses. Trump is said to be highly concerned about the market and has told aides not to make predictions that could cause further losses.
Trump reportedly believes warnings about the disease from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scared investors.
Nancy Messonnier, a top CDC official, had said the coronavirus’s impact on the U.S. “may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe.”
Trump, himself, spoke about the coronavirus in an interview on Jan. 22. At the time, he said: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
But The Post noted more than 50 people in the U.S. now have the coronavirus, and health officials say the number will increase.
“You don’t want to overly feed the darkness, but if you seem like all you do is happy talk then you lose credibility,” said Gene Sperling, who served as an economic adviser during the Clinton and Obama administrations.