Experts slam Trump's spinning of coronavirus stats: 'Pandemics march on despite what numbers people use'

While the statistics regarding the coronavirus are getting harder and harder for the Trump administration to spin, that hasn't stopped President Trump from trying to paint a rosy picture of the situation. Contradicting health officials, over-inflating hopes for an immediately available vaccine, playing down infection rates -- Trump is trying to create his own reality when it comes to the outbreak, according to a report from Reuters.

"While praising his team’s work to combat the virus, the president, who is seeking re-election in November, has repeatedly cited the relatively low number of infected individuals in the United States as proof of the success of his early ban on foreign nationals flying in from China - where the coronavirus originated - compared with actions taken in other countries with higher numbers of cases," write Reuter's Jeff Mason and Steve Holland.

But according to the President's critics, his attempts to play down the seriousness of the crisis is affecting the government's response. Speaking to Reuters, former homeland security adviser to President Obama, Lisa Monaco, says Trump is focusing on the numbers for the numbers' sake.

“They're not preparing the public for what is going to be a substantial spike in the number of cases that we see,” she said.

Also speaking to Reuters was director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Stephen Morrison, who said that global pandemics don't care how world leaders spin their threat.

“Pandemics don’t really care what numbers people use. They just march on,” he said. “There are lots of other people out there counting what’s going on and increasingly ... getting extremely alarmed at the lack of preparedness for what lies ahead.”

Read the full report at Reuters.