White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow faced questions from Fox News on Monday over his claim that there would be no “second wave” of COVID-19 even though some states are seeing a record number of cases.
“Friday morning, you said on Fox News Channel — and I remember it so clearly — you said no second wave, and you said it again,” Fox New host Sandra Smith reminded Kudlow. “Since then, we have received new data points.”
Smith pointed out that states are seeing “COVID spikes across the country.”
“I understand the growing concerns,” Kudlow replied. “And we’re going to have these concerns for a while. But I’ve been in touch with our health experts each of the last four or five days, including this morning. These are relatively small bumps. They’re there. I’m not denying it.”
The economic adviser suggested that the spike in new cases is because “we are testing at a hundred times what we were a few months ago.”
“I think it’s something we have to get used to,” he continued. “I think it’s controllable.”
Fox News host Ed Henry pressed: “How can you say again as you did a moment ago, ‘We’re not shutting the economy down again?’ Nobody is wishing for this. But, God forbid the health experts go to the president and say, ‘Look, we’re fearful this is going the wrong way and there could be tens of thousands of more people dying.’ You’re saying the president still will not shut down the economy?”
“The president is absolutely disinclined to shut down the economy,” Kudlow insisted. “I think shutting down the economy could be worse for our health than not shutting it down.”
He went on to compare the coronavirus pandemic to a hurricane or “bad snow storm.”
“Hardship, heartbreak, yes,” Kudlow remarked. “But when it passes, people return back to their work.”
