Donald Trump has come out in defense of his claim that the coronavirus could "disappear," stating that the U.S. could develop "herd mentality."
While those words might sound somewhat familiar, what Trump was seemingly trying to refer to was "herd immunity," an approach to the pandemic that would see the public develop immunity if enough people caught it.
"With time it goes away," Trump claimed during a town hall hosted by ABC News in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, USA Today reports.
Asked by ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos whether the virus can "go away without the vaccine," Trump responded, "Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time it goes away."
Stephanopoulos added that there would still be "many deaths" if the pandemic is to continue the way it does. "And you'll develop, you'll develop herd—like a herd mentality. It's going to be—it's going to be herd-developed—and that's going to happen. That will all happen," Trump continued.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has already indicated that the "death toll would be enormous" if the country attempted herd immunity, and Trump has even criticized the move himself in the past. "If you remember, they were looking at that concept—I guess it's a concept if you don't mind death, a lot of death—but they were looking at that in the U.K., remember," said Trump during a press briefing in April.
Just this month, the White House denied the Trump administration has considered adopting herd immunity. "The herd immunity so-called theory was something made up in the fanciful minds of the media. That was never something that was ever considered here at the White House," said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. On Tuesday, Trump seemingly cast doubt on that statement, also using the opportunity to say he never attempted to downplay the severity of the virus.
See reactions to Trump's always-dangerous foolishness below.
