Published 11:02 IST, February 27th 2020
Donald Trump advises people to be 'germophobe' like him to avoid coronavirus
US President Donald Trump advised people to be a 'germophobe' like him in order to stay protected from the deadly coronavirus, in a press briefing on Feb 27.
- World News
- 3 min read
United States President Donald Trump advised people to be a 'germophobe' like him in order to stay protected from the deadly coronavirus. In a press briefing on February 27, Trump along with his administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stated that frequent hand-washing is one of the habits which is needed to protect people against the easily spread and potentially fatal COVID-19. According to international reports, having clean hands has long been a quirk of the real estate billionaire turned President of the United States.
“I do it a lot anyway as you probably heard,” he told a press conference in the White House, triggering laughter.“Wash your hands, stay clean. You don’t have to necessarily grab every handrail unless you have to,” Trump said. “When somebody sneezes, I try to bail out.”
While Trump has applauded his administration in controlling the spread of the deadly virus, House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi called it an “opaque and chaotic” response. While the Democrats call for a “well-coordinated” response to the outbreak which according to the World Health Organisation has spread to 33 countries, Trump also recounted a recent close encounter with someone who was sick and how he dealt with it.
"I had a man came up to me a week ago. I hadn't seen him in a long time. I said, 'how you doing?' He said 'fine, fine'..."He hugs me. I said 'are you well?' He said 'no, I have the worst fever and the worst flu.' And he's hugging and kissing me," Trump recalled while acting out the encounter for journalists. "So I said 'excuse me.' I went and started washing my hands."
Trump lauds his administration, CDC
Trump has lauded his administration along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for doing a “great job” in handling the crisis. The US President also took a dig on the Democrats who were critical about the early closing of US borders and said that it was, “too soon”. Moreover, while the death toll of the COVID-19 in China has reached 2,715, Trump bragged about not having even “one death”.
According to Trump, no matter what the Republicans do, Democrats will criticise them for “doing badly”. On the other hand, if the coronavirus disappeared, the US President said that Democrats would call out Trump administration for being “incompetent”. However, he then adds, "it is what it is". As of February 27, the CDC has confirmed 60 positive cases of coronavirus including the ones who have been repatriated to the US.
Updated 11:02 IST, February 27th 2020