Trump says pandemic ‘will probably get worse before it gets better’

US president Donald Trump has returned to the White House press room for the first time in months, appearing at the first coronavirus briefing since April.

Facing deteriorating poll numbers – particularly on his handling of the pandemic – the president announced earlier this week that he would resume the briefings, noting that they attracted high TV ratings.

With more than 140,000 Americans having lost their lives from the virus, the Trump administration may have belatedly grasped the seriousness of the health crisis facing the country and the impact it is having on his poll numbers.

A Washington Post-ABC poll released over the weekend showed that only 38 per cent of respondents approve of Trump's handling of the epidemic – a 28-point drop from March.

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Tuesday's briefing was a departure from the previous daily briefings in more ways than one. Most notably, neither Dr Anthony Fauci nor coronavirus taskforce leader Dr Deborah Birx were present – a peculiar omission given that the function of the briefing is supposed to be to give information to the public.

Trump spoke for approximately 25 minutes – a much shorter appearance than the spring briefings which sometimes ran for close to two hours.

The press conference also marked a significant shift in tone from the president.

The coronavirus pandemic “will probably get worse before it gets better”, he said – a big departure from his previous upbeat assertions that the virus was under control. In a significant U-turn he urged Americans to wear face masks, as he brandished his own mask, embroidered with the presidential seal, though he did not wear it during the briefing.

‘Get a mask’

"We're asking everybody, when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask. Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact," he said, in contrast to his stance over previous months when he accused a reporter of trying to be "politically correct" by wearing a mask and mocked presidential rival Joe Biden for wearing one.

Reading from a prepared script, he said “vaccines are coming a lot sooner than anyone thought possible”, noting that the military was on hand to begin distributing vaccines once they are approved.

"The China virus is a vicious and dangerous illness but we've learned a great deal about it and who it targets." He urged younger people in particular to avoid bars and socialising, noting that the highest number of cases was occurring in the 18-35 age group.

But while Trump succeeded in striking a slightly more contrite and less combative tone as he stuck to his script, he revived some of his most questionable assertions about America’s handling of the crisis.

He accused the media of focusing only on America’s high coronavirus numbers, despite the fact that the country has the highest number of cases and deaths in the world.

“The world is suffering. The fact is that many countries are suffering very, very, very badly,” he said, adding: “We’ve done much better than most.”

He hailed the US’s testing capacity – “we are doing a tremendous amount of testing” – but declined to pledge more money to improve testing, despite the fact that Fauci in an interview an hour before Trump’s appearance said test results were taking far too long to come through.

Fresh outrage

In a blow to Trump advisers who hoped the briefing would signal a new chapter for the president, Trump ignited fresh outrage with his remarks on Ghislaine Maxwell. Asked about the former associate of disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who is in prison awaiting multiple charges related to sexual grooming of minors, Trump said he wished her well.

“I just wish her well, frankly,” he said in response to the only non-coronavirus question of the briefing. “I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach,” he said, referring to his home in Florida.

With memories still fresh of Trump’s infamous suggestion during an April briefing that people should ingest disinfectant to guard against coronavirus, it is unclear if the resumption of the briefings can help turn around Trump’s reputation when it comes to the pandemic.

With the daily death toll from Covid-19 in the United States again over the 1,000-mark, the pandemic is likely to continue to be the dominant story as election day nears.