The “I don’t take responsibility at all” president’s efforts to downplay the disease could lead to tens or hundreds of thousands more serious cases and deaths.
WASHINGTON – What happens when the president of the United States tries to lie, wish and tweet a pandemic away?
As it turns out, it puts a government response four to six weeks behind schedule, possibly resulting in thousands — or even tens or hundreds of thousands — more Americans getting seriously ill and dying.
“They underprepared, and now we have to catch up,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, who worked on the widely praised 2014 Ebola outbreak response under former President Barack Obama. “We could have been in a dramatically different place at this point.”
On Jan. 22, the day before China imposed a draconian quarantine on the province where the virus originated, Donald Trump claimed the disease was “totally under control,” that it was just in a single patient who had come from China. “It’s going to be just fine.”
On Feb. 10, as the virus was starting to spread in Italy and Iran, Trump told a meeting of the nation’s governors at the White House: “A lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat.”
On Feb. 26, the day after a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that life in the United States was likely to change very quickly, Trump claimed that there were only 15 cases here, and that number would soon fall to zero.
Two days later, he called the virus the latest “hoax” that Democrats and the media were using to hurt the economy and, in turn, his chances for reelection. Indeed, over the course of February, he spoke and posted on Twitter repeatedly that the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes, had not killed as many as the seasonal flu and suggested that Americans should buy stocks.
Much More: Lying, Tweeting and Wishing A Pandemic Away Doesn’t Work, It Turns Out
This is a detailed article with much good information. Truthful information. It further illustrates how Trump has totally mishandled the coronavirus pandemic.
WASHINGTON – What happens when the president of the United States tries to lie, wish and tweet a pandemic away?
As it turns out, it puts a government response four to six weeks behind schedule, possibly resulting in thousands — or even tens or hundreds of thousands — more Americans getting seriously ill and dying.
“They underprepared, and now we have to catch up,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, who worked on the widely praised 2014 Ebola outbreak response under former President Barack Obama. “We could have been in a dramatically different place at this point.”
On Jan. 22, the day before China imposed a draconian quarantine on the province where the virus originated, Donald Trump claimed the disease was “totally under control,” that it was just in a single patient who had come from China. “It’s going to be just fine.”
On Feb. 10, as the virus was starting to spread in Italy and Iran, Trump told a meeting of the nation’s governors at the White House: “A lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat.”
On Feb. 26, the day after a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that life in the United States was likely to change very quickly, Trump claimed that there were only 15 cases here, and that number would soon fall to zero.
Two days later, he called the virus the latest “hoax” that Democrats and the media were using to hurt the economy and, in turn, his chances for reelection. Indeed, over the course of February, he spoke and posted on Twitter repeatedly that the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes, had not killed as many as the seasonal flu and suggested that Americans should buy stocks.
Much More: Lying, Tweeting and Wishing A Pandemic Away Doesn’t Work, It Turns Out
This is a detailed article with much good information. Truthful information. It further illustrates how Trump has totally mishandled the coronavirus pandemic.
