'Put down the iPhone': Trump is making coronavirus worse, Obama Ebola tsar says

'He’s focused on the stock market being up and the case count being down ... those are the two wrong things to focus on'

The leader of the Obama administration’s response to the Ebola crisis had some blunt words for President Donald Trump concerning the coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking to Chris Hayes on MSNBC on Thursday, Ron Klain gave the current administration’s response a D+ grading and said that the president should “put down the iPhone,” should stop “saying ridiculous things on camera and let public health authorities brief people and tell us the truth.”

He also said that the tactic of travel restrictions to delay the arrival of the virus only works if you use that time to prepare — the threat has been widely known since early January, and not enough was done.

Mr Klain accused the president of focusing on optics and keeping the number of cases low by being slow about testing: “If you don’t test, you don’t know. He is focused on numbers, he’s focused on the stock market being up and the case count being down.”

“Those are the two wrong things to focus on,” he added.

Drawing on his experience managing a health crisis, Mr Klain suggested that the administration should be working on getting more people tested and treated, and preparing hospitals for an influx of patients.

To date in the US, there are currently 230 cases spread across 20 states, with 14 deaths.

Mr Klain served as chief of staff to both vice president Al Gore and vice president Joe Biden. From late 2014 to early 2015 he served as the United States Ebola response coordinator for President Barack Obama.