White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Friday confidently declared that there won’t be a second spike of COVID-19 outbreaks.
“I’m not the health expert but on the so-called spike, I spoke to our health experts at some length last evening,” Kudlow told the co-hosts of “Fox and Friends.” “They’re saying there is no second spike. Let me repeat that: There is no second spike.”
“And Secretary Mnuchin said yesterday in testimony, and I totally agree, we are not going to shut down the economy,” he added.
The White House adviser did not provide any names of the health experts he said he spoke to.
“There is no emergency, there is no second wave,” he insisted again a few minutes later.
Health experts do agree that “second-wave” is the wrong way to describe what is happening currently with the pandemic’s spread in the U.S. As health reporter and doctor James Hamblin and others have described it, there continues to be one “long wave” of COVID-19 spread. The U.S. is experiencing a plateau, with deaths and infection rates largely impacting minorities and vulnerable populations.
But despite Kudlow’s optimism, experts warn that economic reopening will inevitably cause spikes.
Kudlow has been prone to making rosy predictions about the pandemic that later prove to be utterly wrong.
In late February, the Trump official told investors that COVID-19 had been “contained,” then repeated the false claim again in early March.
“I will still argue to you that this is contained,” he said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” at the time.
Watch Kudlow below:
Kudlow claims health experts told him there's no second COVID-19 wave pic.twitter.com/cFFOTXTBQB
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) June 12, 2020
