Ari Fleischer: Trump must provide coronavirus 'realism' and 'reassurance' to Americans

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Ari Fleisher says White House messaging on coronavirus needs to accomplish two things

Former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer breaks down the optics of the coronavirus.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said on Tuesday that President Trump has delivered two of the most essential approaches to addressing the coronavirus outbreak which Fleischer described as “realism” and “reassurance.”

“Those are the two things that the administration must do every single day,” Fleischer told “Outnumbered Overtime.”

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Fleischer said that the problem underlying the panic about the coronavirus is “fear” and confidence.”

“Those innate worries that people have -- those are driven really by just what they’re hearing and what they’re seeing on social media," he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced last week the global death rate from the coronavirus is at 3.4 percent, making it much deadlier than seasonal flu, but most infected people still get better over time.

COVID-19 has infected more than 113,000 people and killed over 4,000 worldwide since it was discovered last December, but roughly 64,000 have recovered from the virus so far, according to Johns Hopkins University.

China now has more recovered patients than those still infected, while eight people in the U.S. have also recovered from the virus.

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Fleischer added that the Trump administration has the responsibility to try to instill confidence and answer as many questions as possible.

“That means calm realistic accurate expressions from the White House," he said. "It means the president needs to send that broader signal of reassurance and the experts to talk on the level of, 'This is exactly what is happening.'"

Fox News' David Aaro contributed to this report.