Obama: ‘I’m proud of the work we did’ as COVID-19 epidemic unfolds

President Barack Obama on Tuesday slammed the administration for not being more proactive in dealing with the outbreak that has ravaged his state.

“This isn’t an isolated incident, this is a crisis of epic proportions, and we know we have to do more to get it under control,” Obama said.

“I’m not proud of how we’ve done it,” he added.

“But I do think the president has the responsibility and the authority to make changes to the way that we do things, to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to keep the country safe, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Obama’s comments come amid the first days of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people across the U.S. since it was first detected late last month.

The president and his top health officials have been under fire for not taking steps to curb the outbreak in their states, including an increase in the use of coronaviruses to control coronavirence in the first week of February.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been more than 9,000 deaths and over $8 billion in health care costs due to the pandemic.