Trey Gowdy says is heartbroken coronavirus has become politicized
Former South Carolina Republican Representative Trey Gowdy told 'Cavuto LIVE' global health crises should unite, not divide.
Former Republican South Carolina congressman Trey Gowdy said it "breaks [his] heart to see [coronavirus] politicized."
In a Saturday morning interview on "Cavuto LIVE" with host Neil Cavuto, Gowdy echoed the words of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"I am the son of a physician and my advice to my fellow citizens would be two-fold: be just as vigilant as you always should be -- even during flu season. But, more importantly, this virus does not care what your political ideation is. This virus doesn't care what your nationality is."
"If there's anything that ought to be unifying in this country, it should be a desire for the world and our country specifically to be safe from this virus," said Gowdy. "So, it breaks my heart to see it politicized."
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There have been 85,000 cases reported worldwide in nearly 60 countries with new cases reported Saturday. Nearly 3,000 people have died.
As of Friday afternoon, the CDC had reported 62 confirmed cases in the United States and among persons repatriated to the United States. However, since then, new cases were announced in Washington state, Oregon, and California and an interactive COVID-19 map of Global Cases by Johns Hopkins currently shows 66 confirmed U.S. cases.
Later Saturday, health officials in Washington state reported one of those infected had died, the first such death in the United States.
As the number of cases continually rise, stock markets around the world continue to plunge.
On Friday, the Dow Jones index took another hit closing down nearly 360 points. The index has dropped more than 14 percent from a recent high, making this the market's worst week since 2008.
Economists have predicted global growth will slip 2.4 percent this year -- the slowest since the Great Recession in 2009. For the United States, forecasts are falling to as low as 1.7 percent growth this year.
President Trump announced via Twitter Saturday morning that he would hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m. ET. The president also addressed the nation from the White House earlier this week.
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"I'm way too poor to be an expert on the stock market," joked Gowdy.
"I do think -- you know -- I think [Mick Mulvaney] the other day told folks to turn off their television for 24 hours and [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer criticized him for it. I think that Mickey's point is: there are lots of things to be worried about in the world and when you focus a disproportionate amount of attention on this with the morbidity and mortality rates actually not being any higher than the flu and lower than SARS and MERS, then yes you can create this narrative."
"Everywhere I go, people are talking about the coronavirus...but the flu kills more people every year and we don't talk about the flu in the same way," he concluded.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.