Colorado Congressman Ken Buck tweets COVID pandemic 'grossly overstated'

Colorado Congressman Ken Buck tweeted that the COVID pandemic was "grossly overstated." The Republican representing Colorado's 4th Congressional District tweeted the comment on Saturday morning. 

The tweet was part of a retweet from the White House with a picture of President Joe Biden wearing a face mask and making phone calls just days after he tested positive for COVID-19.

Buck tweeted, "If a 79-year-old man can get Covid and return to work days after, the dangers of the pandemic were grossly overstated. Our public health establishment was either systematically deceptive or systematically wrong."

Biden likely has contracted a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus spreading rapidly through the United States, and now has body aches and a sore throat since his positive test, according to an update from his doctor. The BA.5 variant is an offshoot of the omicron strain that emerged late last year. It's believed to be responsible for the vast majority of coronavirus cases in the country. Dr. Kevin O'Connor writes in his latest update on Biden's condition that the results of the preliminary sequencing that indicated the BA.5 variant do not affect Biden's treatment plan "in any way." Biden tested positive on Thursday. He's been isolating in the White House residence since then. 

In the U.S., 1.02 million Americans have died during the course of the pandemic since March 2020.