Kudlow breaks with CDC on coronavirus: ‘We have contained this’

The White House economic adviser suggested that the virus’ impact is “not going to last forever.”

White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said Tuesday that the U.S. has “contained” the threat of a domestic coronavirus outbreak, breaking with the warnings of officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We have contained this, I won’t say airtight but pretty close to airtight,” Kudlow told CNBC’s Kelly Evans on Tuesday afternoon.

Kudlow’s confidence was set against U.S. stocks, which suffered their worst day in two years on Monday and were down again Tuesday amid fears that the coronavirus could mushroom into a pandemic. But the White House economic adviser suggested that the virus’ impact is “not going to last forever.”

“This is a human tragedy,” particularly in China, Kudlow emphasized multiple times. But warning against overreaction, he added, “The business and the economic side, I don’t think it’s going to be an economic tragedy at all. There’ll be some stumbles.”

Though he acknowledged supply chain disruptions as a result of the virus may yet arrive, Kudlow also downplayed the possibility of medicine and other shortages as the crisis in China continues. “I think we can deal with those issues at a later time when the emergency passes, as it will,” he said. “But I’m not at all convinced that we can’t get hold of what we need here in the U.S. We have stockpiles. We also have the capacity to produce more in all these areas.”

Some of his comments stood in contrast to public pronouncements from CDC officials Tuesday that painted the coronavirus’ health threat to the U.S. as the most serious it‘s been.

Nancy Messonnier, who heads the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, warned that American communities need to prepare now for the possibilities of remote work, teleschooling and other provisional measures when the disease starts spreading domestically.

And the White House on Tuesday asked Congress for an emergency $2.5 billion to fight the coronavirus.

Kudlow lauded public health officials’ proactive planning against the virus, “but that does not mean that all this will come to pass” economically, he said. “I just think people should be as calm as possible in assessing this.”