NPR obtained a recording of Republican Sen. Richard Burr telling members of a private club that the coronavirus "is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything we have seen in recent history."

The recording was reportedly taken about three weeks ago. In a statement to Insider, Burr's communications director confirmed the recording.

"[Burr] has worked to educate the public about the tools and resources our government has to confront the spread of coronavirus," the senator's communications director said.

The same day that Burr made these private warnings about the coronavirus, President Trump was telling Americans: "It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear."

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Republican Sen. Richard Burr was captured in a secret recording warning members of a private Washington club that the coronavirus posed a dangerous and disruptive threat, weeks before President Donald Trump and much of the GOP publicly acknowledged how dangerous the virus truly was.

The powerful Republican, from North Carolina, also serves as the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

NPR obtained a copy of the recording, which it broadcast on Thursday. On February 27, Burr spoke to members of the Tar Heel Circle, a subset of the private North Carolina Society club, in Washington, DC, where members pay up to $10,000 to hear directly from members of the state's congressional delegation, as well as "current executive branch officials" and business leaders from North Carolina.

The North Carolina Society did not return Insider's requests for comment.

The tape came from an attendee who "became alarmed about Burr's dire warnings" and began to record, NPR reporter Tim Mak said.

"There's one thing I can tell you about this," Burr reportedly said in the recording. "It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything we have seen in recent history. It's probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.

"Every company should be cognizant of the fact that you may have to alter your travel," Burr went on. "You may have to look at your employees and judge whether the trip they're making to Europe is essential or whether it could be done on video conference. Why risk it?"

Mak also said that the same day Burr made his dire remarks, President Donald Trump told Americans about coronavirus: "It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear ... it could get worse before it gets better."

Burr confirmed in a series of tweets Thursday night that he had spoke to the club on February 27, but accused NPR of "journalistic malpractice."

Burr defended his decision to speak to the club, tweeting, "Like most members of Congress, I address our state society every year. That a good thing. That's what we should be doing. Meeting constituents and talking to them about the work we're doing in D.C. is an important part of our job, especially in times of uncertainty."

In a statement to Insider, Burr's office confirmed the recording and urged Americans to follow Centers for Disease Control guidelines and take the threat seriously.

"Senator Burr has been banging the drum about the importance of public health preparedness for more than 20 years," communications director Caitlin Carroll said in a statement. "His message has always been, and continues to be, that we must be prepared to protect American lives in the event of a pandemic or bio-attack."

Carroll said that since February, Burr has "worked to educate the public about the tools and resources our government has to confront the spread of coronavirus. At the same time, he has urged public officials to fully utilize every tool at their disposal in this effort."

In a February 7 op-ed for Fox News, Burr — along with fellow Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, of Tennessee — acknowledged that "Americans are rightfully concerned about the coronavirus" at a time when the number of cases in China were still skyrocketing.

The senators also wrote, "Thankfully, the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus, in large part due to the work of the Senate Health Committee, Congress, and the Trump Administration."

In the weeks that followed, as the virus spread and began wreaking havoc on Italy, it became apparent that the US government had not reacted aggressively enough and that the healthcare system would strain under more dire models of the outbreak.

Some hospitals now face shortages of critical supplies like protective masks, and the US does not have enough ventilators in the event of a worst-case scenario, The New York Times reported.

Burr has issued statements on North Carolina's first confirmed case in early March and has tweeted updates to his constituents.

But it took weeks for Trump to change his stance on the coronavirus. He previously claimed Democrats were trying to use panic about the virus to undermine him, and he incorrectly compared the coronavirus to the flu, when in fact it is more dangerous. Fox News prime-time hosts such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham echoed that sentiment to their viewers.

On March 13, Trump started to take a much different tack, acknowledging the coronavirus is a "pandemic" and holding daily briefings with officials from across the government to provide updates about the government response. Fox has since followed suit, promoting the Trump administration's entreaties to the public to practice social distancing, handwashing, and other measures.