Trump Acknowledges 100K COVID Deaths

President takes note of 'sad milestone' in US
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted May 28, 2020 9:30 AM CDT
Trump Acknowledges 'Sad Milestone' on Virus
President Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 15, 2020, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The confirmed US death toll from COVID-19 reached 100,000 on Wednesday, and President Trump took notice of the stat on Thursday: "We have just reached a very sad milestone with the coronavirus pandemic deaths reaching 100,000," Trump tweeted. "To all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy & love for everything that these great people stood for & represent. God be with you!" One model being cited by the White House forecasts an additional 32,000 deaths by the first week of August, reports Politico. That tally from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation would thus put the total at about 132,000. Trump has been touting that as a victory of sorts given far more dire predictions when the outbreak began, notes the Washington Post.

"For all of the political hacks out there, if I hadn't done my job well, & early, we would have lost 1 1/2 to 2 Million People, as opposed to the 100,000 plus that looks like will be the number," Trump tweeted on Tuesday. But others, including Jeremy Konyndyk of the Center for Global Development, say those higher projections were what might have happened had the nation not put any mitigation efforts into place at all. "He's basically saying we've done less poorly than complete inaction, that's a pretty underwhelming bar to set," Konyndyk tells Politico. White House press chief Kayleigh McEnany addressed the milestone earlier this week: "We never want to see a single individual lose their life, but that being said, to be under significantly that high mark shows that the president did everything in his power and helped to make this number as low as humanly possible." (More President Trump stories.)

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