Speaking to reporters during a meeting with Colombian President Ivan Duque in the Oval Office Monday morning, President Trump reassured supporters it is safe to attend his campaign rallies despite an increased number of coronavirus cases.
"These [campaign rallies] were set up a long time ago. And others are. I mean, you could ask that to the Democrats because they're having a lot of rallies. They're all having rallies. That's what they're doing. They're campaigning," Trump, who will hold a rally in North Carolina Monday night, said. "I think it's very safe. Yeah. I think it's very safe."
His remarks came in response to a question from a reporter who asked about the issue as a limited number of coronovirus cases continue to pop-up around the country.
President Trump will meet with the coronavirus task force, led by Vice President Mike Pence, at the White House Monday afternoon. Over the weekend, Trump, Pence and a number of HHS, CDC and other federal health officials held a press conference to discuss the spread of the virus. They also detailed how the administration is working with local governments to stop its spread.
"The amount of work that these professionals behind me and many other professionals in many rooms behind us who are watching right now, we don't have the room here to bring them all in, but they have been working around the clock, so hard, on the coronavirus. It's a tough one, but a lot of progress has been made," Trump said. "Since the early stages of the foreign outbreak, my administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to confront the spread of this disease. We moved very early. That was one of the decisions we made that really turned out to be a lifesaver."
While the administration and health officials continue to argue to risk of coronavirus to Americans is low, that could change. In the meantime, they're encouraging Americans to carry on with their normal lives.