According to White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, President Donald Trump will not be shutting the nation down anytime soon.
During her Tuesday White House press briefing, a reporter asked McEnany if Trump would consider a nationwide lockdown.
“No, the president is not considering a national lockdown,” McEnany said.
She continued, “What he is encouraging is mitigation efforts like wearing a mask, which is patriotic, like social distancing, and engaging in these really common-sense safe measures to safely reopen and avoid the health consequences of a lockdown.”
Watch her comments below:
"No, the president is not considering a national lockdown. What he is encouraging is mitigation efforts," said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany pic.twitter.com/Q6qjS6RuXv
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) August 4, 2020
McEnany’s comments come just one day after the president said “a permanent lockdown is not a viable path forward” during his coronavirus press briefing, as IJR previously reported.
He went on to declare a lockdown would do more harm than good.
Trump provided what he said is “evidence of significant” progress in mitigating the effects of the coronavirus.
He claimed 18 states have test positivity rates of under 5 percent.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also recently weighed in on the idea of implementing a nationwide lockdown for the second time, as IJR previously reported.
Appearing on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on July 24, Fauci said he does not believe a second lockdown is “necessary.”
He noted some states may want to consider stepping back or slowing down their reopening process.
During a Q&A session with the JAMA Network on Monday, Fauci warned if daily coronavirus case numbers do not drop to 10,000 by September, it could be a “really bad situation.”
The United States experienced a sharp increase in coronavirus related deaths in July.
Deaths increased by over 25,000 while the number of coronavirus cases doubled in 19 states.
As of Tuesday, there are more than 4.7 million confirmed cases and over 156,000 deaths.
