President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. is “learning to live with” COVID-19, which he compared to the flu shortly after his release from the hospital he was staying in after contracting the coronavirus.
“Flu season is coming up!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!”
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the flu kills far less than 100,000 Americans per year, on average, with the annual number of American deaths from the flu averaging around 36,000 according to Politico.
Trump has repeatedly compared the coronavirus, which has killed over 200,000 Americans since the outbreak began earlier this year, to the flu, despite telling journalist Bob Woodward back in February that the coronavirus is “more deadly than … even your strenuous flu,” according to The Washington Post.
Twitter later labeled Trump's post as a violation of the platform's rules, and hid it behind a warning message:
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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