Donald Trump blamed the country’s surge in coronavirus cases on Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.
The president suggested young people demonstrating against police brutality and racism are the cause for the increase in cases, which have been seen in about 30 states across the country over the recent weeks.
‘There are likely a number of causes for the spike in infections. Cases started to rise among young Americans shortly after demonstrations which you know very well about,’ Trump said during a coronavirus briefing Wednesday.
‘Which presumably triggered a broader relaxation of mitigation efforts nationwide and a substantial increase in travel.’
‘Increased gathering on holidays such as Memorial Day, as well as young people closely congregating at bars and probably other places, maybe beaches, four or five listed places…likely also contributed,’ Trump continued to say before going on to say the surge in cases has also been caused by Mexico.
‘Sharing a 2,000 mile border with Mexico, as we know very well, and cases are surging in Mexico unfortunately…It’s a big problem for Mexico.’
Wednesday’s press briefing saw the president blame the country’s ‘relaxation’ on ‘mitigation efforts’ despite his own calls for Democratic-led states to ‘LIBERATE’ themselves in April, which was widely seen as a call for cities to reopen and ease up on measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
The president also failed to mention why New York City, which saw some of the largest protests in the country in the wake of Floyd’s death in May, has since flattened the curve while hospitalizations and deaths have dropped amid the ongoing demonstrations.
Trump went on to say he is ‘comfortable’ reopening schools and claimed children do not spread the virus.
‘I am comfortable with that,’ Trump responded when asked if he was comfortable opening schools to young children, including his son Barron and his grandchildren.
‘We do have a national strategy…I would like to see the schools open. We have great statistics on schools and young people,’ he said.
‘They don’t transmit very easily. A lot of people are saying they don’t transmit. They don’t bring it home with them.’
Meanwhile, teachers have reportedly been writing wills because they are so fearful of returning to school amid the ongoing outbreak, which has infected over four million and killed over 145,000.
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