Trump says coronavirus 'affects virtually nobody' as death toll reaches 200,000

Donald Trump said Monday night that the coronavirus “affects virtually nobody” — his latest lie about the virus that’s to date killed more than 200,000 people in the United States, the most of any other country in the world.

“Now we know it, it affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems, other problems, if they have other problems, that’s what it really affects,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Ohio. “You know, in some states thousands of people — nobody young, below the age of 18, like nobody. They have a strong immune system, who knows, take your hat off to the young because they have a hell of an immune system, but it affects virtually nobody, it’s an amazing thing.”

As we all now know, the coronavirus affects way more than elderly people.

People ages 50 to 64 — below the age considered “elderly” — account for more than 15% of the deaths in the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Studies show that some who recover from the virus — including young people — have lasting heart abnormalities.

Trump knows that everyone is at risk of coronavirus.

He told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in a March 7 interview — in which he admitted that he intentionally lied about the virus threat even though he knew it was incredibly contagious and deadly — that the virus affected everyone.

“Just today and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It’s not just old, older. Young people too, plenty of young people,” Trump told Woodward.

Trump’s failure to contain the coronavirus is dogging his reelection bid.

Just 39.7% of Americans approve of Trump’s coronavirus response, according to a FiveThirtyEight polling average.

Meanwhile, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has a national polling lead of 6.8%, according to FiveThirtyEight, as well as leads in enough swing states that Biden would win the Electoral College if the election were held today.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.