President Trump’s top economic adviser referred to the coronavirus pandemic in the past tense during a short taped speech at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night.

“Hello folks, you know me from TV and radio,” Larry Kudlow began. After talking up Trump’s economic record, he added, “Then came a once in 100 year pandemic. It was awful. Health and economic impacts were tragic. Hardship and heartbreak were everywhere. But presidential leadership came swiftly and effectively, with an extraordinary rescue for health and safety to successfully fight the COVID virus.”

On the day Kudlow made his remarks, there were approximately 39,000 new COVID-19 cases and 1,200 deaths from the virus recorded in the United States. More than 178,000 Americans have died from the disease to date. In late February of this year, Kudlow claimed that the U.S. had “contained” the virus “pretty close to airtight.”