Anyone's interpretation of what Trump said (in your quote), or at any point in the last four years depends on how you interpret Trump.
Are you supposed to take each word extremely literally and down to the exact word and take it all as gospel? Of course not, that's quite clear to anyone who has been observing U.S. politics over the course of the last four years. Trump isn't someone who speaks literally, frequently.
People also said Trump was lying or incompetent (or both) when he said he would have vaccines ready in 2020 or even in early 2021. It would seem (at least as of today) that Trump was entirely right on the issue of vaccines. Which does seem to be an amazing feat given this has never happened so quickly in human history.
As for 'rounding the corner' - that would seem to be a reasonable expression given vaccines are forecast to start being delivered within the next 3 weeks (prior to Christmas).
Conceivably by the middle of 2021, anyone who is high risk in America will likely be vaccinated, quite possibly resulting in next to no deaths by 3rd and 4th quarter 2021.
"This may be the most shameful moment in the history of U.S. science policy.
In an interview with Woodward on 7 February 2020, Trump said he knew that COVID-19 was more lethal than the flu and that it spread through the air. “This is deadly stuff,” he said. But on 9 March, he tweeted that the “common flu” was worse than COVID-19, while economic advisor Larry Kudlow and presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway assured the public that the virus was contained. On 19 March, Trump told Woodward that he did not want to level with the American people about the danger of the virus. “I wanted to always play it down,” he said, “I still like playing it down.” Playing it down meant lying about the fact that he knew the country was in grave danger.
It also meant silencing health officials who tried to tell the truth. On 25 February, Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), said, “It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness.” She was right and Trump knew it. But he shut her down. He also tried to control messaging from Anthony Fauci, the nation's foremost leader on infectious diseases. Trump's supporters insisted that Fauci and Messonnier were not being muzzled, but now we have clear evidence in emails that they were."