White House was alerted about dangers of pandemic in September: Ex-Trump economist

A former Trump administration economist has claimed that his team had alerted the White House about the dangers of a possible pandemic way back in September 2019, three months before the first case of coronavirus was reported in China. Speaking to an American news channel, Tomas Philipson said that he co-authored and published a Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) report that warned about the impact of a looming pandemic.

The report titled "Mitigating the Impact of Pandemic Influenza through Vaccine Innovation" had warned that a pandemic could claim half a million lives and cause up to $3.79 trillion in damage to the US economy. Philipson said that the council was extremely successful, during his first nine months of tenure as CEA chairman, in getting President Donald Trump to take the advice.

He acknowledged that the disagreements among White House officials were not uncommon over course of action the President should take over various issues. The ex-Trump administration economist revealed that there were times when he walked out of the Oval Office when his team was not on the winning side, leading to his exclusion and threats of firing him.

Read: US CDC Director: COVID-19 Could Be Controlled In Weeks If People Wear Masks

Unprecedented daily rise

The coronavirus cases in the United States has spiralled out in the past few months and the country is witnessing an unprecedented rise in daily cases. The US has reported over 3.8 million cases of coronavirus and more than 142,000 deaths so far, the highest numbers worldwide. 

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has projected that the United States might see over 157,000 deaths by August 8. The CDC informed that this week’s national forecast relies on 24 individuals forecasts from other institutions and researchers. It said that the state-level ensemble forecasts suggest the number of new deaths over the next four weeks will likely exceed the number reported over the last four weeks in 22 states and two territories. 

Read: Donald Trump Rules Out National Mandate Requiring People To Wear Face Masks