Pence Pressed on Additional 53,000 COVID-19 Deaths After Describing Panic as ‘Overblown’

Vice President Mike Pence was pressed on his previous remarks describing the panic surrounding the 🦠Coronavirus Outbreak as “overblown.”

During an appearance on CNN’s “New Day,” Pence and host John Berman engaged in an intense debate about the 🦠Coronavirus Outbreak and the White House’s pandemic response.

Pence was asked about his previous op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on June 16 where he described the coronavirus panic as “overblown.”

Berman noted that since Pence’s op-ed was published, more than 53,000 Americans have died from coronavirus as he asked the vice president if his observation was wrong.

“My question to you, again, about where we are and where we will be stems from this: On June 16, you wrote, ‘We are winning the fight against the invisible enemy.’ And you said, ‘The panic is overblown.’ Since then, 53,000 more Americans have died. More than 3 million more Americans have been infected with coronavirus. So how was the concern overblown?”

“Well John what was… at that time, as you well remember we were seeing cases declining from the dramatic rise in cases and the loss of nearly 2,500 Americans per day, at the height of this pandemic,” Pence said.

He added, “And most of our scientists believed that we were well on our way toward lowering cases, and that perhaps the coronavirus like the flu would be seasonal and that we would a summer respite. But sometime around Memorial Day, things changed.”