Jared Kushner said Trump should ignore warnings about a fall COVID surge to avoid hurting the economy

Ever since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the United States, epidemiologists have been warning that the virus was very likely to surge in the fall, when the colder weather is forcing more Americans to spend time indoors.

That reality has now come to pass, as the daily average for new coronavirus cases in the United States this week has blown past 73,000, which marks a record well past the peaks the country saw earlier this summer.

In newly released audio recordings published by CNN, Kushner told journalist Bob Woodward that the president should avoid talking about the virus making a comeback in the fall because it would undermine his plans to reopen the economy.

""So if you basically say this is coming back in the fall, don't gear up, then people won't rehire, people will stay unemployed," Kushner explained. "And if you're planning for the worst-case scenario, that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Kushner then said that ignoring dire warnings about a fall surge also helped Trump in his role as economic "cheerleader."

"One of the things that the President's great at is he's a cheerleader," Kushner said. "He's trying to make people feel good about the outcome."

More than 225,000 Americans have died from the novel coronavirus pandemic in the past eight months alone.