Trump heads into flu season amid pandemic mocking masks, holding packed campaign rallies

He's choreographed scenes experts warn could lead to illness or even death.

ByWill Steakin andBen Gittleson

Amid a raging pandemic, President Donald Trump has repeatedly choreographed a scene experts warn could lead to illness or even death: Thousands of supporters jammed together, mostly without masks, cheering for a candidate who mocks precautions against the novel coronavirus and has vowed to ignore his own health advisers.

Fighting for reelection amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump enters the final stretch of the election increasingly ridiculing and ignoring coronavirus-related restrictions while holding packed campaign rallies across the country. Health experts, meanwhile, warn a bad flu season colliding with the coronavirus could be a devastating double threat to the country.

“We need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter, because it’s not going to be easy,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's foremost infectious disease expert, said Thursday.

Asked during an interview with CBS News on Wednesday if it was frustrating to see Trump hold massive rallies with little-to-no mask-wearing, Fauci said, "Yes, it is."

Shifting focus and minimizing the threat

With flu season approaching, the president’s response to the virus has again reverted to mocking health precautions and holding packed rallies with thousands of mostly maskless supporters that float local state guidelines.

The president has worked to shift focus to the economy and violent protests in the streets, looking to portray the pandemic as a thing of the past despite cases still rising in nearly two dozen states and health officials warning the fall season could be crucial to combating the COVID-19.

Jenny Wills, 57, who was one of the few Trump supporters wearing a mask in line to attend the president’s rally in Latrobe last week told ABC News she was only doing so because her elderly mother made her promise she would.

“I’m wearing it for my mom. She texted me and said, ‘Will you were your mask?’ So I did,” Wills told ABC News when asked about being one of the few attendees in line wearing a mask and about to board a packed charter to the rally with other mostly massless supporters. “I think a lot of it is gobbledygook,” she said, wearing a mask.

Another supporter in North Carolina, Tammy Cornell, 51, told ABC News she did bring her mask to the rally but did not want to wear it.

When asked about the health risks of attending a packed campaign rally in the middle of a pandemic, Cornell said simply: “We’re all going to be fine. And Trump’s worth it.”

Source:https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-heads-flu-season-amid-pandemic-mocking-masks/story?id=72950584&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_heads_hero_live_hero_hed

Zednews

Trump heads into flu season amid pandemic mocking masks, holding packed campaign rallies