President Donald Trump has said that Russia and Saudi Arabia were responsible for the downturn in US stocks as he tried to deflect his administration’s blame amid mounting criticism of his handling of the coronavirus epidemic which has wreaked havoc on world markets.
“Saudi Arabia and Russia are fighting over the price and flow of oil. This is, and the false news, the reason for the fall of the market! “Mr. Trump tweeted on Monday.
As the number of Americans living with the virus has increased, the President has been severely criticized for the way he tackles the coronavirus crisis – especially its rhetoric, including advice that contradicts US health officials.
Trump said on Monday that collapsing oil prices would be “good for the consumer” by lowering oil prices while minimizing the magnitude of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a series of tweets criticizing the critics, Trump said that 37,000 Americans died from the flu last year, when only 22 people have so far been killed by a coronavirus.
“Nothing is closed, life and the economy continue,” he tweeted. “At the moment, there are 546 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 22 deaths. Think about it! ”
Trump was scheduled to meet with his economic team at the White House on Monday afternoon to discuss ways to reduce the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis.
Congress is also examining measures to help contain the expected economic damage. A spokesperson for Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate finance committee, said that the Iowa senator “is studying the possibility of targeted tax relief measures that could provide a quick and effective response to the coronavirus” .
US health officials have identified 566 cases of coronavirus with 22 deaths, most of them in King County, Washington, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Nancy Messonnier, a vaccine expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the virus spreads “easily and sustainably” among the population, and that there is “essentially no immunity” to the new disease.
“As the trajectory of the epidemic continues, many people in the United States will at some point this year or next be exposed to this virus and there is a good chance that many will fall ill,” a- she declared.
The CDC has come under heavy pressure to boost testing for coronaviruses in the United States, after criticizing the Trump administration for rolling out the tests too slowly. Messonnier said health officials have enough tests to test up to 75,000 people. Private laboratories were also stepping up testing.
Trump said this weekend that he was not concerned about the situation, although several people in the area around the U.S. capital have been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Ted Cruz, a Republican senator, said he would stay at home in Texas after learning that he had interacted with a man who tested positive after attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, a big event of four days held two weeks ago within 20 km of the White House. Trump and Mike Pence, its vice president who heads the White House Coronavirus task force, were also in attendance.
The White House’s response to the crisis has drawn more criticism this weekend after the United States Surgeon General and Anthony Fauci, the respected head of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and a member of the task force on the coronaviruses, gave contradictory figures for the number of test kits that had been distributed.
California was preparing for an influx of cases on Monday as the Grand Princess, a cruise ship carrying 3,500 passengers, was due to dock in Oakland. The ship is carrying 21 crew members and passengers who have contracted the coronavirus. Trump said on Friday that he did not want the ship to dock as it would increase the number of cases reported on the American continent.
Some critics have compared his handling of the crisis to the way George W. Bush handled Hurricane Katrina, a devastating storm in 2005 that killed thousands of people. The former president suffered politically from what was seen as inept management of the recovery.
“It’s her Katrina event. . . He is incompetent and that is the proof. We are way behind on this point, “said Tom Steyer, the former Democratic presidential candidate before giving up the race.
Fauci warned this weekend that people should think more about whether to attend major events as authorities have gone from limitation to mitigation due to the increasing number of cases. Mitigation involves stopping the spread of the virus among communities by changing behavior.
Trump has said he will continue to organize rallies while campaigning for re-election in November. The two Democratic candidates – Joe Biden, the former vice-president, and Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont – both said that their campaigns were coordinated with local and national health authorities, but that they had not ‘intention to cancel events.
The two candidates campaign before Tuesday when six states, including Michigan and Washington, will hold primaries, followed by a critical day Tuesday next week when Florida and Ohio will assign delegates.
Follow Demetri Sevastopulo on Twitter: @dimi
