CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta couldn't be more exasperated by President Trump's decision to speak before a packed crowd at the Republican National Convention, fearing some attendees could die from COVID-19 as a result.
Trump on Thursday delivered his acceptance speech at the RNC before a crowd of about 1,500 people who weren't practicing social distancing and few of whom were wearing masks, a fact Gupta sounded the alarm about on Friday morning, expressing deep frustration that such an event took place during the coronavirus pandemic.
"The history books will be written about this chapter in our lives at some point, and it will show events like that and say that in the middle of a pandemic ... at a time when there were more than 5 million infected, we started having events like that again," Gupta said. "It's really frustrating. It's mind-boggling."
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Gupta went on to say that this demonstrates that some people still haven't "learned" how dangerous COVID-19 is, and he raised concerns about the coronavirus spread the event may lead to.
"There will be people who became infected as a result of that event last night," Gupta said. "And there will be people who will spread it, and possibly require hospitalization, may even die as a result of that event last night."
CNN's Jim Acosta reports that a senior White House official dismissed concerns about the crowd at the event by declaring, "Everybody is going to catch this thing eventually." But Gupta pushed back against that flippant comment, noting that what COVID-19 "does to the body" long term still isn't clear and warning, "You don't want this virus." Brendan Morrow
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