MSNBC host Joe Scarborough singled out conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday while slamming “media hacks” for spreading misinformation about the novel coronavirus.
The host of “Morning Joe” called out the right-wing media personality in light of Mr. Limbaugh describing the coronavirus during his latest radio broadcast as “pneumonia times 10.”
Mr. Limbaugh previously compared the coronavirus to the flu and common cold, and last month he claimed it was being “weaponized” against President Trump by Democrats and the media.
Responding to the radio host’s recent comment that the coronavirus is actually several times more severe than pneumonia, Mr. Scarborough wondered aloud about the repercussions of Mr. Limbaugh’s previous rhetoric.
“I wonder how many people who are infected right now listened to that sort of talk and listened to people saying that it was a media hoax, that they’re whipping people into a frenzy and overplaying this to try to get President Trump impeached,” Mr. Scarborough asked during “Morning Joe.”
“I wonder how many people are in the hospital today, how many people are infected today because they heard those lies in the media and they believed them. I wonder how many Rush Limbaugh listeners, if 20 million people still do listen to him every week, how many people depended on those lies, relied on him, and now found out that even he is saying this is pneumonia times 10,” Mr. Scarborough said on the show.
More than 164,000 cases of COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the coronavirus, have been confirmed across the U.S. as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracker. Of those, close to 6,000 have recovered.
The number of people in the U.S. who died after contracting COVID-19 surpassed 3,000 this week, according to Johns Hopkins, making the disease responsible for claiming more lives than the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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