Carson says 'about 98 percent' of people who get coronavirus will recover: 'We can't operate out of hysteria'

close

Video

Ben Carson on coronavirus response: We can't operate out of hysteria

HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson addresses White House coronavirus response as number of cases begins to shrink.

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.

Housing & Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson told "The Story" Thursday that not enough public attention is being paid to "the number of people who have recovered" from coronavirus" -- which Carson said "is going to be about 98 percent of all the people who get it."

Carson, a one-time Baltimore pediatric neurosurgeon, added that between one-quarter and one-half of all people infected with coronavirus are asymptomatic.

"You probably do know someone that has it, you may have it, who knows?" Carson told host Martha MacCallum. "But people have been terrified because we've talked about the bad."

THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK, STATE-BY-STATE

Carson emphasized that Americans should continue practicing social distancing and follow the other guidelines from the White House coronavirus task force, of which he is a member. He added that now is not the time for people to let their guard down.

The secretary added that when it comes to reopening the U.S. economy, the government must watch for the infection curve to be at a low enough point, as well as for sufficient antibody testing to be online.

"When we see that bell-shaped curve -- and we've seen it come down rather steeply in some other countries -- when that happens [and] we haven't seen it go back up, that's what we are looking for here," he said. "That already seems to be starting."

"Obviously, we don't want to [resume economic activity] too early. We will wait for a couple of weeks and see if that continues down and then we also need to make sure that we have appropriate testing."

"We have to be able to test people to see if they have the antibodies which will make them much safer in terms of returning to the workforce. And then we have to return them in a logical way. That's the key."

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

At the same time, Carson acknowledged that if we "destroy the economic infrastructure of our country," there will be more hardship than there has been from the virus itself.

"We can't operate out of hysteria," Carson said. "When people are hysterical they don't do logical things."