A new study showing that earlier lockdowns could have saved at least 36,000 lives from coronavirus, but Vice President Mike Pence pointed out Thursday that President Donald Trump had actually started action very early, in January with his travel suspension from China, that "bought an extraordinarily important amount of time."
"We eventually closed down travel from Europe, screened passengers from Italy and South Korea, (and) we bought an extraordinarily important amount of time so that in early March, we actually had only some 14 cases of domestic transmission of actual spread in the United States," Pence told Fox Business' Stuart Varney. "Even though most experts in early March were suggesting that the risk was low to Americans, it would be on March 15, the president made again an unprecedented decision to put the health and safety of America first."
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases and fatalities are dropping, said Pence, and that is a "tribute to the president's leadership. It's a tribute to the American people, the sacrifices that they have made."
Further, he said that although "we grieve the loss of more than 93,000 Americans, there remains no question that Americans "bent the curve" and saved lives.
"This is not a choice between the health of the American public and the economy," said Pence. "There have been real-world impacts people are feeling right now, and they know the best thing we can do for America is to safely and responsibly reopen our country and put America back to work, and we are going to partner with every governor to give them the data, the information, and the guidance to do that responsibly."
Meanwhile, Trump will visit a Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan that has been refitted to make ventilators, but Pence said he doesn't know if the president will wear a mask, even though all employees there are required to wear one.
"The president made it clear that he would make that decision on a situational basis and I'm very confident the president will take the guidance of the WhiteHouse physicians about what's most appropriate," said Pence.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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