After White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx downplayed reports of equipment shortages at hospitals and said that “the predictions of the models” anticipating large-scale spread of COVID-19 “don't match the reality on the ground,” right-wing media were quick to praise her and attack the mainstream media for promoting “hysteria” over the virus. But experts and fact-checkers say Birx’s claims were “misleading” and “deceptive.”

Despite warnings from federal officials, President Donald Trump downplayed the threat of coronavirus for weeks with the help of his allies at Fox News and other right-wing outlets. In addition to minimizing the very real danger posed by the virus, right-wing media spread conspiracy theories about its origins, promoted medical and scientific misinformation, and attempted to profit by selling unsubstantiated cures and preventative measures.

When the severity of the situation could no longer be ignored, right-wing media seemingly shifted their rhetoric to focus on praising the administration’s response and attacking Trump’s critics -- particularly those in the mainstream media -- rather than directly downplaying the threat of the virus. However, some right-wing media figures have continued to minimize coronavirus by absurdly claiming that letting the economy suffer by shutting down nonessential businesses and telling people to stay at home is worse than them dying from the virus, saying that photos and videos of empty hospital parking lots and waiting rooms prove that the media is exaggerating the COVID-19 threat, and now using Birx’s misleading statements at a March 26 press conference to claim that the media is overhyping the threat.

At the press conference, Birx made several claims which experts and fact-checkers have called “misleading” and “false reassurance.” According to her, “when people start talking about 20 percent of a population getting infected, it's very scary. But we don't have data that matches that, based on the experience.” But U.S. epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch, who was involved in developing the model that predicted large-scale transmission of COVID-19, pushed back, saying that such a statement is “really quite deceptive” and it is a “fundamental scientific error to take the current success of containment in some places as a sign that permanent containment is possible.”