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US President Donald Trump said he publicly downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus, but only in an attempt to reduce panic. He said, “If you said in order to reduce panic, maybe that’s so”. President said when asked about comments he made to journalist Bob Woodward for a coming book. He said, “It’s just another political hit job. Woodward one thing and the American people another because being honest in public would mean you’re going to have bigger problems”. Trump added, “I don’t want people to be frightened. We want to show confidence, we want to show strength”. Trump shot back at criticism that mounted all day. He said, “The last thing we can show is panic or excitement or fear”.

Point to be noted that the Trump administration in early spring struggled to explain to people how the virus spreads. President Trump informed the Washington Post on 7^th February and said, “This is deadly stuff. You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu”. Trump’s aides are correct that he did say from the White House podium earlier this year that up to 200,000 Americans could die from the respiratory virus. But the president also has said over and over it will one day just disappear and go away. He earlier said that the warming spring and summer temperatures would eradicate it.

Biden also fired back that experts have informed his campaign that more than 30,000 lives would have been spared had the president been more honest early in the spring. The Johns Hopkins University has indicated that at least 190,455 people have died in the United States from the coronavirus. The Republican legislators didn’t rush to defend the GOP president. But, US Senator John Kennedy said, “These gotcha books don’t really interest me. There will be another one out tomorrow”. It is noteworthy that his state was hit hard at the onset of the virus outbreak. He informed CNN and said, “We worked very closely on trying to help small businesses. I don’t put a lot of credence into that”.