In President Trump’s town hall Thursday night, the coronavirus took center stage as it has during this campaign.
Trump made several claims he’s made before. One we’re giving a new rating, the other we haven’t had the chance to test.
First we’re taking a look at a claim the President has made before that’s rating has changed since the first time he said it.
“It’s rounding the corner, we have the vaccines coming and we have the therapies coming,”he said.
We’re rating this not true.
After review, we've found this information is Not True.
This time because the pandemic is not showing signs of slowing down. He originally used the phrase during his visit to Michigan in early September when case numbers around the country were rising in southern states but were dropping in other populated areas around the country. We rated the claim then “be careful.”
According to data from this week, 33 states have seen an increase in cases and only three states show a declining rate of cases. In fact, Michigan set a record for the state’s highest daily case count and neighboring states Wisconsin and Indiana have also either set records or seen alarmingly high numbers of cases. Hospitalizations and deaths are also increasing nationwide, although they still remain below the early days of the pandemic.
On top of those rates health officials, including members of the President’s coronavirus task force, have expressed fears over spread during the fall and winter months pointing to a third spike and potential second wave.
Next is a claim the President has been making about the lives he’s saved during the pandemic.
“We did the right thing. We were expected to lose 2,200,000 people and maybe more than that,” the President told one of women who asked a question during the town hall.
This is true but needs some explaining.
We’ve reviewed information surrounding this topic and confirmed that It’s True.
The President has cited this number for months. It comes from an Imperial College study which said the US would have lost 2.2 million lives if the White House had done nothing at all about the pandemic and if the US had gone on without any state or individual precautions. While the march study correctly called the scenario unlikely, the President did accurately quote the numbers despite saying that “one death was too many.”
Despite the President’s narrative of the pandemic, a recent poll from the Associated Press showed 54 percent of Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus and just 26 percent approved.
More Town Hall fact checks from the Trust Index: