Cardiologist on CNN Swats Down Trump’s Optimistic Take on Covid Pandemic: We May Be ‘Rounding a Corner’ Into ‘An Oncoming Train’

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiac expert from the George Washington University hospital, swatted down President Donald Trump’s recent, optimistic “rounding the corner” narrative about the Covid-19 pandemic on Friday night.

During an appearance on CNN Tonight, Reiner discussed the current state of the outbreak with host Don Lemon in the wake of a revised IHME projection model that now predicts 410,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus by January 1, 2021.

“When you look at the track record their estimates tend to be lower than what we end up seeing,” Lemon ominously said, before introducing Reiner. “That’s disturbing, predicting a staggering 3,000 deaths a day by December due in part to declining vigilance of the public? How much of this is due to the comments of the president like this?”

Lemon then played a clip of Trump at Friday’s daily White House press briefing, where he insisted the country is “rounding the corner” on the pandemic and then praised his own administration’s handling of the outbreak as “incredible.”

But the country’s battle with the pandemic remains a significant struggle, as the number of total cases nears 6.5 million and the death toll approaches 190,000. On Friday, the Covid Tracking Project reported another 52,000 daily cases and just under 1,000 daily deaths. Since the peak of nearly 70,000 daily cases in late July, the virus’ spread has slowed, but it has stubbornly plateaued between 40,000 and 50,000 for several weeks now as schools have re-opened, hovering at a level nearly twice what it was in June.

Our daily update is published. States reported 903k tests, 52k cases, and 998 COVID-19 deaths. This is the first time deaths have been under 1,000 on a weekday (excluding Mondays) since July 18. pic.twitter.com/TbNXig7MEY

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) September 4, 2020

“I think we have a commander-in-chief who believes in magical thinking,” Reiner said, hitting back at Trump’s sunny prognosis. “All along he’s hoped for the quick fix. I think what he believes now is that a vaccine is the quick fix. The truth of the matter is if we had a vaccine approved, let’s say we had it in November, it would take a year and a half to vaccinate the country.”

“We’re not rounding a corner,” he added, mocking the president’s latest catchphrase. “I’m afraid we’re ’rounding a corner’ into an oncoming train.”

“If the University of Washington estimates are correct, by New Year’s we would have 400,000 people dead,” Reiner noted, alluding to the expected spike in Covid-19 cases as temperatures drop and the seasonal flu season begins. “So, it’s still boggles the mind the president refuses to endorse the strategy that we know works, which is for everyone to wear a mask. If he was looking to get reelected and wanted a dramatically drop the infection rates in the weeks leading up to the election, he would insist that the entire country wears a mask because then the infection rates would drop. But he won’t do it.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.