As coronavirus spreads in Devin Nunes’ district, he blames ‘these media freaks’
Rep. Devin Nunes this week in a series of interviews with conservative news organizations has said the coronavirus outbreak would pass within weeks and cast doubt on local government orders asking people to stay home.
He has spoken to Fox News and KMJ Radio, and he sent a letter to constituents on Wednesday that referred to Fresno’s coronavirus shelter-in-place recommendation as “controversial” and noted that one neighboring city, Clovis, had not yet asked people to stay home.
Meanwhile, coronavirus is spreading in his San Joaquin Valley district. A seventh case of the contagious coronavirus was announced in Nunes’ home Tulare County on Thursday, and the first in that county to be described as “person-to-person” spread was announced Wednesday.
Nunes’ comments on coronavirus have gained media attention since an interview he gave to Fox News on Sunday, when he advised that there is no food shortage and recommended that people stop buying in bulk at the grocery store.
He concluded those remarks by encouraging people to go to restaurants.
“You were just talking about the economy, and there’s a lot of concerns with the economy here, because people are scared to go out. But I will just say, one of the things you can do if you’re healthy, you and your family, it’s a great time to go out and go to a local restaurant, likely you can get in easily,” Nunes said. “Let’s not hurt the working people in this country that are relying on wages and tips to keep their small business going. Just don’t run to the grocery store and buy $4,000 worth of food, you know, go to your local pub.”
The interview was covered by local and national news organizations in stories that noted one of the Trump administration’s top health officials on the same day had said he would not go to restaurants because of the virus.
On Monday, President Donald Trump at a news conference also discouraged people from going to restaurants and bars.
Nunes on another Fox interview walked back his previous comments. He said he meant that people should go to drive-thrus and get takeout.
“These media freaks don’t have a clue what’s going on out in the real world. We have a problem out here because we have people standing in line for 45 minutes at Costco,” Nunes told Sean Hannity on Monday night. “So what I was saying is: You have empty restaurants, you can go through the drive-thru and do takeout, it’s a great place to go.”
Nunes also told Laura Ingraham on Fox News Tuesday night that we would “get through” the coronavirus “for sure” by Easter, which is April 12.
Public health officials have declined to make any clear pronouncements on duration, saying it’s unclear right now, and Trump said in a briefing Tuesday that it could be as late as July or August. California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week said many schools probably would be closed until June.
“There’s a good chance we can get through this in the next couple of weeks and for sure by Easter, because we will have a handle on who’s getting sick and how to treat them,” Nunes told Ingraham.
On Wednesday, Nunes sent a letter to his constituents about coronavirus that characterized a voluntary shelter-in-place recommendation as “controversial.”
“The City of Fresno issued a controversial order today recommending that Fresno’s residents voluntarily shelter in place despite opposition to the order from the City of Clovis and Fresno County,” he wrote. “No cities in Tulare County are affected by the order.”
On Wednesday night, Fox News host Shannon Bream said she wanted to give Nunes a chance to answer his critics “who said you got that totally wrong.”
“That’s total fake news, once again. What I said still remains the case, it is still true. ... The No. 1 problem we have right now is we have hundreds and hundreds of people that are going into Costco and grocery stores and other places. That’s exactly what we don’t want you to do,” Nunes said.
“In the meantime, we have restaurants that are remaining open that can serve food safely and cheaply,” he continued. “They’re moving to takeout, they have drive-thrus, so once again, this is the fake news making this very political. And it shows what little credibility they have — they have no clue.”
Nunes tweeted that exchange Thursday, teasing it with the caption: “Fakenews and drunk tweeting by media.”
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