总统唐纳德·特朗普举行了他的首次新闻发布会冠状病毒危机在近三个月的时间里一直持续到周二，没有任何来自白宫工作小组的专家。
“今天，我想介绍一下我们对中国病毒，以及我的政府正在做什么来控制阳光地带的疫情。特朗普在新闻发布会上说，民调显示，美国人强烈反对他处理危机的方式。
将美国与世界其他国家相比，他通过强调这是一个全球性问题来淡化这一流行病对美国人的影响，但他也罕见地承认了未来的坏消息。
“不幸的是，在好转之前，情况可能会变得更糟。一些我不喜欢谈论的事情，但事实就是这样。这是我们的方式。你放眼世界。全世界都有。而且往往会这样。”
2020年7月21日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫举行的冠状病毒病(COVID-19)应对新闻发布会上发表讲话。莉娅·米利斯/路透社
“如果你看美国电视，你会认为美国是唯一一个与中国病毒有关并受其影响的国家。这个世界正遭受着巨大的痛苦。但事实是，许多国家正遭受非常，非常，非常严重的痛苦，他们已经遭受这种病毒很长时间了。我们比大多数人做得更好，死亡率也比大多数人低。”
事实上，美国是死亡率最高的十个国家之一。
尽管特朗普采取了比过去更少防御、有时更现实的语气，但他重申，病毒最终将“消失”，并继续努力将对他的应对措施的任何批评降至最低，将他对疫情的处理吹捧为一个成功的故事。
“我的政府将不遗余力地拯救生命，保护弱势群体，这非常重要。我们对这种疾病已经了解了很多，我们知道谁是最脆弱的，我们将保护他们。”
2020年7月21日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫布雷迪新闻发布室的新闻发布会上对记者发表讲话。奇普索莫德维拉/盖蒂影像公司
一天前，特朗普在推特上发布了一张自己第一次戴口罩的照片，称之为“爱国”，这在某种程度上是一种逆转
“我们要求每个人，当你不能在社交场合保持距离时，戴上面具。去拿个面具。不管你喜不喜欢这个面具，它们都有影响。他们会有效果的，我们需要我们能得到的一切，”特朗普在几个月的抵抗后说。
当被问及为什么不经常戴口罩时，特朗普说他在需要的时候会戴，尽管他在沃尔特·里德国家军事医疗中心只被拍到一次戴口罩。
“我这里有面具。我带着它，我会很乐意使用它。“没问题，我已经说过了，我说:如果可以的话，戴上面具，”特朗普说，手里拿着面具，但没有戴上。“我对面具没有问题。我是这样看的。任何可能有帮助的事情——当然也可能有帮助——都是好事。”
2020年7月21日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫举行的新闻发布会上讲话时戴着口罩。埃文·武奇/美联社
他继续为自己没有在简报室戴眼镜辩护，比如说，他和房间里的每个人都经过了测试。
“通常，我会和经过全面测试的人在一起。我被测试过了。理论上，你不需要面具。我已经习惯了面具，原因是，想想爱国主义也许是，它有帮助。这很有帮助。”
特朗普在“再次开放美国”的另一个信息变化中表示，他的政府现在“恳求年轻的美国人避免拥挤的酒吧和其他拥挤的室内集会。”
他补充道:“要安全，要聪明。”
2020年7月21日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫举行的冠状病毒(COVID-19)应对新闻发布会上向记者提问。莉娅·米利斯/路透社
在接受美国广播公司首席白宫记者乔纳森·卡尔(Jonathan Karl)关于美国在测试方面是否存在问题的提问时，奥巴马为测试状况进行了辩护，称“我们做的测试比任何人都多”，但也承认减少等待结果的时间是一件“好事”。
“我们将能够降低这些数字。这些数字在其他地方是相似的。他们也在做大量的数字，这些数字没有人认为是可能的，但是这些数字将会下降。我同意，我认为如果我们能做到这一点是件好事，”特朗普说，他似乎指的是等待时间，而他指的是“数字。”
就在他的政府试图在下一轮的救济资金中取消任何额外的测试资金的时候，总统告诉卡尔，如果专家们认为有必要的话，他可以接受更多的资金。
2020年7月21日，美国广播公司新闻记者乔纳森·卡尔在白宫举行的冠状病毒(COVID-19)应对新闻发布会上，唐纳德·特朗普总统回答了记者的提问。莉娅·米利斯/路透社
当被问及是否支持为测试提供更多资金时，特朗普说:“他们将在今晚和明天就此向我做一个演示。”“我认为我们正在进行大量的测试，但如果医生和专业人士认为，即使我们处在一个没有人曾梦想过的水平，他们可能会想做得更多，我也没意见。”
卡尔还问了特朗普白宫新闻秘书凯丽·麦克纳尼(Kayleigh McEnany)当天早些时候的一个说法，即有时总统会“一天多次”接受测试，特朗普记不起发生过什么。
“嗯，我不知道不止一个。我确实平均每两天、三天参加一次考试，我不知道我在一天内参加过两次考试。但我能预见到这种情况的发生。”
2020年7月21日，在白宫布雷迪简报室，唐纳德·特朗普总统在冠状病毒工作队的新简报会上发言。吉姆·沃森/法新社通过盖蒂图像
当被问及为什么他的医生和专家没有和他一起出席简报会时，总统回答说，“Birx博士就在外面，”他指的是冠状病毒反应协调员Deborah Birx博士，但他没有提到他的其他专家，如Anthony Fauci博士，他早些时候说他没有被要求出席。
特朗普在白宫所谓的“新闻发布会”上回答了几个问题它持续了大约26分钟，而之前的简报会持续了一个多小时。
在建议注射消毒剂治疗COVID-19后不久，总统于4月底停止了几乎每天一次的特别工作组简报会。
助手们敦促他结束在简报会上的露面，引用了不断下降的民调数字，但是随着民调数字进一步下降和冠状病毒病例激增，总统回到了讲台上。
Pandemic probably will 'get worse before it gets better': A solo Trump holds 1st coronavirus briefing in months
PresidentDonald Trumpheld his first press briefing focused on thecoronaviruscrisis in nearly three months on Tuesday -- by himself -- without any experts from the White House task force.
"Today, I want to provide an update on our response to theChinavirus, and what my administration is doing to get the outbreak in the Sunbelt under control. Seems largely in Sunbelt but could be spreading," Trump said to open the briefing amid polls showing Americans sharply disapproving of how he's handled the crisis.
Comparing the U.S. to the rest of the world, he downplayed the impact of the pandemic on Americans by emphasizing it's a global problem, but he also made a rare acknowledgment of bad news ahead.
"It will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better. Something I don't like saying about things but that's the way it is. It's the way -- it's what we have. You look over the world. It's all over the world. And it tends to do that," he said.
"If you watch American television, you'd think that the United States was the only country involved with and suffering from the China virus. Well, the world is suffering very badly. But the fact is that many countries are suffering very, very, very badly, and they've been suffering from this virus for a long time. We've done much better than most and with the fatality rate at a lower rate than most," Trump continued.
In fact, the U.S. is in the top ten of countries with the highest mortality rates.
Though Trump took a less defensive and sometimes more realistic tone than he has in the past, he repeated that the virus will eventually "disappear" and continued to try to minimize any criticism of his response, touting his handling of the pandemic as a success story.
"My administration will stop at nothing to save lives and shield the vulnerable, which is so important. We have learned so much about this disease, and we know who the vulnerable are, and we are going to indeed shield them," he continued.
In somewhat of a reversal, Trump also sent a clearer message on masks, one day after tweeting a photo of himself donning one for the first time, calling it "patriotic."
"We're asking everybody that 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. They'll have an effect, and we need everything we can get," Trump said, following months of resistance.
Asked why he doesn't wear a mask more frequently, Trump said he does when he needs it, despite only being photographed once wearing one at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
"I have the mask right here. I carry it, and I will use it gladly. No problem with it, and I've said that and I say: if you can, use the mask," Trump said, showing the mask in his hand but not putting it on. " I have no problem with the masks. I view it this way. Anything that potentially can help -- and that certainly can potentially help -- is a good thing."
He went on to justify not wearing one in the briefing room, for instance, by saying he and everyone in the room had been tested.
"Oftentimes, I'll be with people that are fully tested. I've been tested. In theory, you don't need the mask. I'm getting used to the mask and the reason is, think about patriotism maybe it is, it helps. It helps," he added.
In another change in his messaging to "Open Up America Again," Trump said his administration is now "imploring young Americans to avoid packed bars and other crowded, indoor gatherings."
"Be safe and be smart," he added.
Questioned by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl about whether the U.S. has a problem with testing, the president defended the state of testing, saying, saying “We’ve done more testing by far than anybody" but also conceded it would be a "good thing" to reduce wait times for results.
“We’ll be able to get those numbers down. Those numbers are similar in other places. They’re also doing massive numbers, numbers like nobody thought possible, but those numbers will be coming down. I agree, I think it's a good thing if we could do that,” Trump said, seemingly referring to wait times as he referred to “numbers."
Even as his administration has sought to zero out any additional funding for testing in the next round of relief funding, the president told Karl he’d be okay with more if the experts feel it’s needed.
“Well they're going to make a presentation to me tonight and tomorrow on that,” Trump said, when asked if he supports more funding for testing. “I think that we are doing a tremendous amount of testing but if the doctors and the professional feel that even though we’re at a level that nobody ever dreamt possible that they would like to more, I'm okay with it.”
Karl also asked Trump about a claim White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany made earlier in the day, that sometimes the president gets tested "multiple times a day," Trump couldn't recall a time that has happened.
"Well, I didn't know about more than one. I do take probably on average a test every two days, three days, and I don't know of any time I've taken two tests in one day. But I could see that happening," he said.
Questioned why his doctors and experts weren’t with him for the briefing, the president replied that “Dr. Birx is just outside,” referring to coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, but he made no mention of his other experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who earlier said he wasn't asked to be there.
Trump took a few questions at what the White House had called a "news conference." It lasted roughly 26 minutes compared to earlier briefings that would last well over an hour.
The president had stopped participating in the once near-daily task force briefings at the end of April, not long after suggesting injecting disinfectants to treat COVID-19.
Aides urged him then to end his appearances at the briefings, citing sinking poll numbers, but with poll numbers falling farther and coronavirus cases surging, the president returned to the podium.
