President Trump swatted away a reporter's question on Wednesday after he asked him how many Wuhan coronavirus deaths are acceptable to him if he did not support a doctor's idea to move forward from voluntary lockdowns.
"The key to getting this economy open as soon as possible is to test everyone who needs testing so when can quarantine all infected individuals and allow everyone else to go back to work immediately. Would you subscribe to that strategy? If not, how many deaths are acceptable?" the reporter asked.
How many? None. How many deaths are acceptable to me? None. If that’s your question. I saw him, I saw his statement, we have tested by far more than anybody, we are tested more than anybody right now, there’s nobody even close. Our tests are the best test, the most accurate tests, but if you’re saying we’re going to test 350 million people — I watched his statement, I disagree with it. We can go to certain states, I can name them now but I’m not going to do that — we can go to certain states right now that have virtually no problem or a very small problem," Trump said.
"We don’t have to test the entire state in the Midwest or wherever they may be, we don’t have to test the entire state, I think it’s ridiculous. A lot of those states can go back right now and they probably will because at some point in the not-too-distant future, certain states are going to come off the rolls. Maybe New York can't and maybe California can't," he added.
Earlier in the press conference, Trump said there are some in the media who would be more than happy to keep the economy closed because it would hurt his presidency and reelection chances.
"Just so you understand, I think there are certain people who would like it to not open so quickly, I think there are certain people who would like it to do financially poorly because they think that would be very good as far as defeating me at the polls," he explained.