Clueless or Wrong? Joe Biden: 'COVID Cases Are Down, COVID Deaths Are Up'

By Jack Cowhick June 4, 2021 at 3:29pm

Following President Joe Biden’s remarks on the state of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, many are wondering just how oblivious the president is.

During a Friday speech meant for Biden to tout his May jobs report, in an effort to prove that “America is finally on the move again,” the president claimed that while COVID-19 cases are down, “COVID deaths are up.”

Conservative commentator Benny Johnson shared a video of the perplexing moment on Twitter.

BIDEN: “COVID cases are down, COVID deaths are up.” pic.twitter.com/GuWtq4phcU

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) June 4, 2021

Here we go again.

Obviously, Biden is wrong. No statistical evidence proves that COVID cases are down while COVID deaths are paradoxically rising.

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID data tracker shows that coronavirus cases and deaths have been on a steady decline for months.

According to the CDC, both cases and deaths have been consistently declining since January of this year. Daily case averages in the United States have declined by nearly 95 percent, experiencing a small rise in April followed by another steady decline. The New York Times’ coronavirus tracker shows that, in the last 14 days alone, daily cases in the U.S. have declined by 48 percent.

Was Biden's gaffe deliberate or accidental?

Daily death averages have also been on the decline since January, experiencing a whopping 87 percent decrease.

In other words, Biden is right. America is “finally on the move,” but his asinine gaffes force the country and its citizens to take two steps forward and one step back at every turn.

Biden’s White House team seemingly attempted to rectify his mistake, including in the speech’s final transcript a parenthetical “[down]” rather than “up” in the phrase.

Oops. From the @WhiteHouse transcript of President @JoeBiden‘s speech earlier today in Rehoboth Beach. pic.twitter.com/VNh5Lp7P8O

— Nikki Schwab (@NikkiSchwab) June 4, 2021

The White House has reportedly confirmed that Biden’s gaffe was just that. CNN reporter Daniel Dale tweeted Friday morning that “Biden’s ‘Covid deaths are up’ was a slip.”

Biden’s “Covid deaths are up” was a slip, White House says, as seemed apparent in context – Biden boasting about things getting better. (He used the same lines last week in correct form: https://t.co/cula1sEAta.) Here’s NYT chart. https://t.co/8gW1iwiDJD https://t.co/Hh72n41BX4 pic.twitter.com/YMcVh0sG1k

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 4, 2021

As Dale pointed out in his tweet, this correction seems “apparent” — Biden was praising his own jobs report, so he likely wouldn’t mention that more have died due to the pandemic under his administration.

Of course, it’s clear that Biden misspoke, and it’s also clear that vaccines are actually working.

According to the CDC, a majority of Americans are at least partially vaccinated. Over 169 million Americans have received at least one dose, including more than 60 percent of Americans age 12 or older, and over 86 percent of those 65 or older.

With 41 percent of the total population being fully vaccinated, the data is clear: Despite the scares, the vaccine seems to be working. As Biden supposedly meant to say, COVID cases are down, and COVID deaths are down.

Biden’s misstatement was likely nothing more than another gaffe. But when the leader of the free world is making such blatant errors on a regular basis, that should be cause for concern.

If Biden can’t even get these simple facts right, what can he do right?

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