US COVID-19 Deaths Pass 200,000 As Trump Says Virus ‘Affects Virtually Nobody’ During Indoor Rally

The number of deaths in the U.S. from the COVID-19 pandemic passed 200,000 before noon Monday, with over 6.8 million confirmed cases. The United States has roughly 20% of global fatalities despite having just 4% of the global population.

The U.S. also has one of the highest global infection rates, with a case count of 2,051 per 100,000 population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported late Monday. By comparison, Sweden's case count is 26 per 100,000.

Donald Trump said at a Monday rally the virus “affects virtually nobody,” part of his effort to downplay the severity of the pandemic while still saying it should be taken seriously.

“It affects elderly people, elderly people with heart problems ... nobody young, below the age of 18, like nobody. They have a strong immune system, who knows?” Trump said.

The president’s comments contrast with his recorded statements to Bob Woodward in which ignited a firestorm. On the tapes, he admitted he downplayed the virus despite knowing the danger it posed, saying: “Now it’s turning out that it’s not just old people. ... I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down.”

Trump has continued to say the pandemic will stop on its own, telling reporters the virus “is going away. It’ll go away like things go away. No question in my mind.”

Trump's campaign rallies are often indoors and seldom require attendees to wear masks, witht he potential to become superspreader events. A recent rally in Nevada only required masks for those sitting in view of television cameras.

“We will very easily defeat the China virus. That’s what’s happening. And we’re already making that turn,” Trump said at the rally.

The Chicago Tribune noted the current death toll is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 67 days. Jennifer Nuzzo, a public health researcher with Johns Hopkins, told the newspaper more could have been done to combat the virus.

“It is completely unfathomable that we’ve reached this point,” she said. “We have from the very beginning lacked a national testing strategy. For reasons I can’t truly fathom we’ve refused to develop one.”

Public skeptic of the virus and former Nashville Council Member Tony Tenpenny died of the virus on Monday. He had called the CDC and WHO “pure lying asses” and shared a link to a video suggesting COVID-19 might be caused by demons, The Hill reported. The video has since been taken down.

Herman Cain, a former presidential candidate and vocal Trump supporter, died of the virus on July 30 after attending Trump's June rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and mingling maskless in crowds.