Coronavirus: US surgeon general defends official numbers after Trump says CDC ‘exaggerates’ cases
- Jerome Adams was responding to a presidential tweet saying the numbers are ‘far exaggerated’
- America’s death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 350,000, with more than 20 million cases diagnosed
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by David Cohen on politico.com on January 3, 2021.
“From a health perspective, I have no reason to doubt those numbers,” Adams said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” responding to a question from host Jake Tapper pressing him on a tweet on Sunday where the president stated without evidence that Covid-19 numbers have been inflated.
Adams said: “I don't speak for the president. I speak for the office of the Surgeon General and the Public Health Service, and I'm focused on making sure people get the information they need and wash your hands and stay your distance and get the vaccine when it's available.” He also said that the death toll is not the only indicator of how damaging the pandemic has been to the country.
Speaking on ABC's “This Week,” Dr Anthony Fauci also said there was nothing fake about the death toll: “The deaths are real deaths. All you need to do is go out into the trenches. Go to the hospitals and see what the health care workers are dealing with. They are under very stressful situations in many areas of the country. The hospital beds are stretched, people are running out of beds, running out of trained personnel who are exhausted.”