This timeline has been updated with Trump rallies and golf playing since (as of March 31, 2020) he is now trying to create a narrative that claims he was trying hard to address the pandemic early on, but was distracted by his impeachment. He was impeached by the House on December 18, 2019, and his Senate trial ran from January 16, 2020 to his acquittal on February 5, 2020.
2015: Obama’s National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, establishes the Global Health Security and Biodefense Unit in the White House National Security Council. (https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-trump-fired-pandemic-team/partly-false-claim-trump-fired-entire-pandemic-response-team-in-2018-idUSKBN21C32M)
January 13, 2017: The joint Obama-Trump transition teams run an exercise for pandemic preparedness. Trump transition team attendees include: Steven Mnuchin, Rep. Mike Pompeo, Wilbur Ross, Betsy DeVos, Dr. Ben Carson, Elaine Chao, Stephen Miller, Marc Short, Reince Priebus (resigned), Rex Tillerson (fired), Gen. James Mattis (fired), Rep. Ryan Zinke (resigned), Sen. Jeff Sessions (resigned), Sen. Dan Coats (fired), Andrew Puzder (not confirmed), Dr. Tom Price (resigned), Gov. Rick Perry (resigned), Dr. David Shulkin (fired), Gen. John Kelly (resigned), Rep. Mick Mulvaney, Linda McMahon (resigned), Sean Spicer (fired), Joe Hagin (resigned), Joshua Pitcock (resigned), Tom Bossert (resigned), KT McFarland (resigned), Gen. Michael Flynn (awaiting criminal sentencing after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI), Gary Cohn (resigned), Katie Walsh (resigned), and Rick Dearborn (resigned). (https://www.justsecurity.org/69650/timeline-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-u-s-response/)
May 2018: The Global Health Security and Biodefense Unit in the White House National Security Council is disbanded by National Security Advisor John Bolton after its head, Timothy Ziemer, leaves the Trump administration. Pandemic response functions are folded into other teams. (https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-trump-fired-pandemic-team/partly-false-claim-trump-fired-entire-pandemic-response-team-in-2018-idUSKBN21C32M).
January-August 2019: Nineteen agencies of the federal government and twelve states conduct a pandemic functional exercise, “Crimson Contagion.” The scenario is a novel influenza virus that arises in China and spreads to the United States, but stockpiles of vaccines are not a match to enable the virus to be contained. (https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/crimson-contagion-2019-simulation-warned-of-pandemic-implications-in-us/2243832/) The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Robert Kadlec, appointed by Donald Trump in 2017 and who played a key decision-making role in this exercise, downplayed the risk of pandemic, cut the budget, and cut the program for stockpiling personal protective equipment (PPE). Instead, he spent money on stockpiles of smallpox vaccine, purchasing $2.8 billion of it from a company that had previously employed him as a consultant. (Smallpox was eradicated in 1980.) (https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/before-pandemic-trumps-stockpile-chief-put-focus-on-biodefense-an-old-client-benefited/2020/05/04/d3c2b010-84dd-11ea-878a-86477a724bdb_story.html)
July 2019: The Trump administration made the decision to eliminate the position of CDC’s resident advisor to the U.S. Field Epidemiology Training Program in China, Dr. Linda Quick, in September 2019. She quit her job in July after receiving the news. (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-cdc-exclusiv/exclusive-u-s-axed-cdc-expert-job-in-china-months-before-virus-outbreak-idUSKBN21910S)
September 2019: The Trump administration ends a $200 million pandemic early warning program, PREDICT, at the U.S. Agency for International Development, started in 2009, aimed at training scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to new viruses. During its lifetime, the project identified 1,200 viruses with pandemic potential. The PREDICT program involved 60 foreign laboratories, including the Chinese lab in Wuhan which identified SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. (https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-02/coronavirus-trump-pandemic-program-viruses-detection)
October 25, 2019: Former Vice President Joe Biden tweets: “We are not prepared for a pandemic. Trump has rolled back progress President Obama and I made to strengthen global health security. We need leadership that builds public trust, focuses on real threats, and mobilizes the world to stop outbreaks before they reach our shores.” (https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1187829299207954437)
December 24, 2019: As of June 2021, this is now the earliest suspected date of COVID-19 infection in the United States, per antibodies in blood donated by nine individuals between January 2 and March 18, 2020. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/when-was-coronavirus-first-in-us/2021/06/15/1aaa6b56-cd2d-11eb-8cd2-4e95230cfac2_story.html)
December 31, 2019: Donald Trump tells assembled guests at the Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve celebration that “We’re going to have a great year, I predict. I think it’s going to be a fantastic year.” (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/29/worst-predictions-about-2020-451444)
January 2-3, 2020: Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Robert Redfield has conversations about a virus outbreak in China with his counterpart at China’s CDC, Gao Fu, who warns him that it is extremely serious. (https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3084092/us-cdc-had-very-good-interaction-china-after-coronavirus)
January 8, 2020: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issues its first warning about a novel coronavirus now known as COVID-19.
January 9: Trump holds a campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio.
January 9: Berlin, Germany scientist Olfert Landt’s company, TIB Molbiol, develops its first COVID-19 test based on existing SARS tests. (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/asia/testing-coronavirus-science-intl-hnk/index.html)
January 10: The RNA sequence data for COVID-19 was published online: http://virological.org/t/novel-2019-coronavirus-genome/319
January 11: Olfert Landt sends a developed COVID-19 test to the Taiwan CDC and Roche in Hong Kong for validation. The test ends up working.
January 14: Trump holds a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
mid-January: The U.S. begins some screening of passengers from Wuhan, China, at airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. Prior to this event, at least 4,000 passengers arrived in the U.S. directly from Wuhan, China without any screening. (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/us/coronavirus-china-travel-restrictions.html)
January 16: The U.S. House sends articles of impeachment to the Senate, starting Trump’s first impeachment trial.
January 17: WHO publishes Olfert Landt’s COVID-19 test protocol. TIB Molbiol manufactured four million tests by the end of February, and 1.5 million per week after that.
January 17: CDC announces that it has its own COVID-19 test. (See February 5.)
January 18: Dr. Rick Bright, director of the HHS Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority at HHS, sends an email to ASPR Robert Kadlec asking to convene a Disaster Leadership Group (DLG) meeting over COVID-19. Kadlec responds that he doesn’t think it is necessary and doesn’t see the urgency. (https://theintercept.com/2020/05/07/coronavirus-whistleblower-hhs-n95-ppe/)
January 18: Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar phones Trump at Mar-a-Lago to warn him about the risk of coronavirus, but “Even before the heath [sic] secretary could get a word in about the virus, Trump cut him off and began criticizing Azar for his handling of an aborted federal ban on vaping products, a matter that vexed the president.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/)
January 18: Trump plays golf at the Trump International, West Palm Beach, Florida.
January 19: Trump (possibly) plays golf at the Trump International, West Palm Beach, Florida.
January 21: CDC confirms first U.S. case of COVID-19. (https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0121-novel-coronavirus-travel-case.html) See December 24, 2019 above.
January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.” (https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-says-he-trusts-xis-word-on-coronavirus-its-all-under-control) 314 global cases in 4 countries, 309 China, 4 outside China (Thailand, Japan, South Korea).
January 26: Sen. Schumer calls on the Department of Health and Human Services for coronavirus to be designated a public health emergency. (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/30/how-coronavirus-shook-congress-complacency-155058)
January 27: Joe Biden writes an op-ed warning of the U.S.’s lack of preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic. (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/nobody-expected-the-coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-did.html)
January 28: Elizabeth Warren releases a plan for “Preventing, Containing, and Treating Infectious Disease Outbreaks at Home and Abroad."
January 28: Trump holds a campaign rally in Wildwood, New Jersey.
January 30: Trump holds a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
February 1: Trump plays golf at the Trump International, West Palm Beach, Florida.
February 2: Trump (possibly) plays golf at the Trump International, West Palm Beach, Florida.
February 2: Trump’s ordered restrictions on travel from China take effect. These restrictions do not apply to Americans returning from China. 279 flights from China occurred after this date, and screening of returning passengers was haphazard and inconsistent. (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/us/coronavirus-china-travel-restrictions.html)
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/us/coronavirus-airports.html) 14,557 global cases in 23 countries, 14,411 China, 146 outside of China (WHO). CDC starts sending out test kits in first week of February, which turn out to be faulty.
February 5: The U.S. Senate impeachment trial votes to acquit Trump on both articles.
February 5: CDC announces it will begin shipping COVID-19 tests to states. Shortly thereafter, it is determined that the CDC test kits don’t work.
February 6: Patricia Dowd of Santa Clara County, California, dies from COVID-19, though this is not determined until late April. (https://www.axios.com/first-us-coronavirus-death-earlier-autopsy-dbc72f86-30ed-47e5-b5d8-6811643f9853.html)
February 7: Trump to Bob Woodward, in an interview for his new book, Rage: “It’s also more deadly than your – you know, your – even your strenuous flus…This is 5%, versus 1% percent and less than 1%.” (https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/bob-woodward-rage-book-trump-coronavirus/index.html) 31,481 global cases in 24 countries, 31,211 China, 270 outside of China, 637 deaths in China, 1 death outside of China, U.S. 12 cases (WHO). February 10: “You know in April, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather.” Interview with Trish Regan, Fox Business. (https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-trish-regan-fox-business-february-10-2020) 40,554 global cases in 24 countries, 40,235 China, 319 outside China, U.S. 12 cases (WHO).
February 10: Trump holds a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire.
February 15: Trump plays golf at the Trump International, West Palm Beach, Florida.
February 19: Trump holds a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona.
February 20: Trump holds a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
February 21: Trump holds a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada.
February 23: Trump and the White House National Security Council is sent a memo from White House economic advisor Peter Navarro warning of coronavirus epidemic in the U.S. which could kill up to two million Americans. (https://www.axios.com/exclusive-navarro-deaths-coronavirus-memos-january-da3f08fb-dce1-4f69-89b5-ea048f8382a9.html)
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!” Twitter. (https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1232058127740174339) Dow closes down 227.51 points at 28,992.40. 79,331 global cases in 29 countries, 77,262 China, 2,069 outside China, 35 U.S. 12 labs other than CDC can perform coronavirus testing.
February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.” (https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1232492821501771776) 80,239 global cases in 33 countries, 77,780 China, 2,459 outside China, 53 U.S.
February 25: “I think that’s a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine." In India. (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-coronavirus-control-us-problem/story?id=69198905) The vaccine was, in fact, for Ebola, not COVID-19: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/white-house-says-trumps-vaccine-claims-about-ebola-not-coronavirus.html
February 25: “This president will always put Americans first. He will always protect American citizens. We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here.” Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany to Trish Regan on Fox Business. (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/29/worst-predictions-about-2020-451444)
February 26: First confirmed community spread (from person to person unrelated to travel in China) within the United States (per evidence as of June 2021). (https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/when-was-coronavirus-first-in-us/2021/06/15/1aaa6b56-cd2d-11eb-8cd2-4e95230cfac2_story.html)
February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” White House Press Conference. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-conference/) 81,109 global cases in 37 countries, 78,191 China, 2,918 outside China, 53 U.S. First day with more new cases outside China than in China. First two reported COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. in Seattle, Washington, though there had already been earlier deaths not yet attributed to COVID-19 (see February 6). (https://www.axios.com/first-us-coronavirus-death-earlier-autopsy-dbc72f86-30ed-47e5-b5d8-6811643f9853.html)
February 26: “So we’re at the low level. As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck.” White House Press Conference (same link as above)
February 26: “We’re going very substantially down, not up.” White House Press Conference (same link as above)
February 26: “Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape! @CDCgov…..” Twitter. (https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1232652371832004608)
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” At White House. (https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/28/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-miracle-stock-markets/index.html) 82,294 global cases in 46 countries, 78,630 China, 3,664 outside China, 59 U.S. More new cases in Korea than China.
February 27: Laura Ingraham on Fox News in front of screen that shows an NPR story “Italy Reports 650 Cases And 17 Deaths” with a Fox chyron reading “LEFT TRYING TO PANIC AMERICANS OVER CORONAVIRUS.” (Photo from Sean Howe on Bluesky.)
February 27: Sean Hannity in front of a screen that says “CORONAVIRUS DEATHS IN U.S.” with the number “0”. (Photo from Nothings Monstered on Bluesky.)
February 28: “We’re ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn’t be ordering unless it was something like this. But we’re ordering a lot of different elements of medical.” At White House. (https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1233516512830459908) 83,652 global cases in 51 countries, 78,961 China, 4,691 outside China, 59 U.S.
February 28: Trump holds a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina. At this rally, Trump said: “Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus, you know that, right? Coronavirus, they’re politicizing it. You say, ‘How’s President Trump doing?’ They go, ‘Oh, not good, not good.’ They have no clue. They don’t have any clue. … ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That didn’t work out too well… Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But we did something that’s pretty amazing. We have 15 people in this massive country and because of the fact that we went early. … So a number that nobody heard of recently, and I was shocked to hear it, 35,000 people on average die each year from the flu. Did anyone know that? 35,000, that’s a lot of people. And so far we have lost nobody to coronavirus in the United States. Nobody. And it doesn’t mean we won’t and we are totally prepared. It doesn’t mean we won’t, but think of it. You hear 35 and 40,000 people and we’ve lost nobody and you wonder the press is in hysteria mode. … My administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to prevent the spread of this illness in the United States. We are ready. We are ready. Totally ready. … A virus starts in China, bleeds its way into various countries all around the world, doesn’t spread widely at all in the U.S. because of the early actions that myself and my administration took against a lot of other wishes. … We had [to] quarantine some people. They weren’t happy, they weren’t happy about it. I want to tell you there are a lot of people that [were] not so happy, but after two weeks they got happy.” Trump’s statement that no one in the U.S. had been lost to COVID-19 was false both by not-yet-known deaths (see February 6) and by publicly reported deaths (see February 26), but the first officially confirmed COVID-19 death came on February 29. (https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1259119606955945986)
February 29: First confirmed U.S. COVID-19 death, a man in Kirkland, Washington. (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/1st-coronavirus-death-u-s-officials-say-n1145931)
March 1: Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro warns Trump in a memo to “MOVE IN TRUMP TIME” to invest in preparations for coronavirus, including drug ingredients, tests, and other supplies. “There is NO downside risk to taking swift actions as an insurance policy against what may be a very serious public health emergency. If the COVID-19 crisis quickly recedes, the only thing we will have been guilty of is prudence.” Trump ignored these recommendations; on April 7, 2020 he said he hadn’t seen the memo. (Washington Post story, March 31, 2021: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/03/31/navarro-pandemic-supply-contracts-trump/) Navarro subsequently used his influence to push to award hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts to untested firms, including a $354 million contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA; also see January 21, 2021 entry below), a $96 million no-bid deal for respirators, and a $34.5 million deal from the VA which ended with a contractor pleading guilty to fraud, among other examples documented by ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-covid-pandemic-contracts). March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don’t think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?” White House coronavirus task force meeting. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-members-coronavirus-task-force-meeting-pharmaceutical-companies/) 88,948 global cases in 64 countries, 80,174 China, 8,774 outside China, 62 U.S. CDC removes number of tests completed from its website (474 on March 1). (https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/2/21161693/cdc-coronavirus-testing-numbers-website-disappear-expansion-us)
March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.” White House coronavirus task force meeting, same as previous link.
March 2: Trump holds a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina.
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work - some of them go to work, but they get better." (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/05/trump-disputes-coronavirus-death-rate-121892) 94,091 global cases in 76 countries, 80,422 China, 12,669 outside China, 108 U.S.
March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.” (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/05/trump-disputes-coronavirus-death-rate-121892) 95,324 global cases in 85 countries/territories/areas, 80,565 China, 14,759 outside China, 129 U.S.
March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!” Twitter. (https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1235604572850343937)
March 5: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control planned to post a global travel alert for all countries, but it was delayed by the White House until March 11. (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/20/politics/coronavirus-travel-alert-cdc-white-house-tensions-invs/index.html)
March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.” At CDC. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-tour-centers-disease-control-prevention-atlanta-ga/) 98,192 global cases in 88 countries/territories/areas, 80,711 China, 17,481 outside China, 148 U.S.
March 6: “The tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.” At CDC, same as previous link.
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.” At CDC, same as previous link.
March 6: “I don’t need to have the numbers to double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault.” At CDC, same as previous link.
March 6: “It’s something that nobody expected.” (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing/) March 6: “Everybody who wants a test can get a test.” At CDC, same as previous link. In fact, tests are still hard to come by on March 23: https://thebulwark.com/where-are-the-tests/
March 6: “It’ll go away.” (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/29/worst-predictions-about-2020-451444)
March 7: Trump plays golf at the Trump International, West Palm Beach, Florida.
March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.” Twitter. (https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1236634209516752896) 105,586 global cases in 101 countries/territories/areas, 80,859 China, 24,727 outside China, 213 U.S.
March 8: Trump plays golf at the Trump International, West Palm Beach, Florida.
Prior to March 9: CDC wanted to recommend people over 60 stay at home, but Trump administration said no. (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/mismanagement-missed-opportunities-how-white-house-bungled-coronavirus-response-n1158746)
March 9: “So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” Twitter. (https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1237027356314869761) 109,577 global cases in 104 countries/territories/areas, 80,904 China, 28,673 outside China, 213 U.S.
March 9: “And we have a great economy, we have a very strong economy, but this came – this blindsided the world. And I think we’ve handled it very, very well. I think they’ve done a great job.” Press conference. (https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-coronavirus-briefing-march-9-2020)
March 10: “Be calm. It’s really working out. And a lot of good things are going to happen.” Press conference. (https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1237453485899223040)
March 11: “Health insurers have agreed to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments.” Press conference. (https://twitter.com/owermohle/status/1237922717699014658) In fact, this only applied to tests, not treatments.
March 11: CDC posts a global travel alert that had been intended for release six days earlier but was delayed by the White House. (https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/20/politics/coronavirus-travel-alert-cdc-white-house-tensions-invs/index.html)
March 12: White House says neither Trump nor Pence will be tested for coronavirus despite contacts with people who have tested positive. (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/us/politics/trump-brazil-coronavirus.html)
March 12: “It’s going to go away.” (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/29/worst-predictions-about-2020-451444)
March 13: Trump repeatedly shakes hands at White House coronavirus press conference, despite knowing that he has recently been exposed to people who have now tested positive for the virus. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/13/trump-handshakes-coronavirus-press-conference/) 132,758 global cases in 122 countries/territories/areas, 80,991 China, 51,767 outside China, 1,264 U.S. Dow closes the week at 23,185.62.
March 13: “I don’t take responsibility at all.” White House press conference, in response to question about whether Trump takes any responsibility for the failures in U.S. coronavirus testing. (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/13/trump-coronavirus-testing-128971)
March 13: Trump says he likely will be tested for coronavirus. Same White House press conference. (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/13/politics/donald-trump-emergency/index.html)
March 13 (evening just before midnight): White House doctor Sean Conley issues statement saying that Trump doesn’t need to be quarantined or even tested for coronavirus because he is at low risk. (http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2020/images/03/14/whmemo.png)
March 14: “SOCIAL DISTANCING!” Twitter. (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1238824050924883968) CDC has tested 3,958 specimens (not individuals). 142,539 global cases in 135 countries/territories/areas, 81,021 China, 61,618 outside China, 1,678 U.S.
March 14: “It’s something that nobody expected.” (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing/)
March 14: Trump says he has been tested for coronavirus and is awaiting results expected in a day or two. (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/14/politics/trump-press-conference-coronavirus/index.html)
March 14: New screening measures are introduced at airports, which lead to delays from processing bottlenecks and large crowds of people. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2020/03/14/europe-travel-ban-airport-delays/)
March 15: The White House announces Trump has tested negative for coronavirus. (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/14/politics/trump-press-conference-coronavirus/index.html) The Fed announces $700B in quantitative easing as stock market futures hit circuit breakers after a 5% drop.
March 15: “We’re learning from watching other countries … This is a very contagious virus, it’s incredible, but it’s something that we have tremendous control over.” (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/15/politics/fact-check-trump-control-coronavirus/index.html)
March 16: “That’s not under control for any place in the world. … I’m not talking about the virus.” Press conference. (https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/1239637609309261826) 167,511 global cases in 151 countries/territories/areas, 81,077 China, 86,434 outside China, 1,678 U.S. (CDC count for U.S.: 3,487).
March 16: The Supreme Court announces that it is postponing its next argument sitting, for the first time since it did the same in 1918 due to the deadly global influenza outbreak.
March 16: “Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves.” On conference call with U.S. governors. (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/world/coronavirus-news.html)
March 16: “It’s so contagious. It’s so contagious. It’s like record-setting contagious.” White House press conference. (https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/16/donald-trump-admits-contagious-coronavirus-control-12407873/)
March 17: “I’ve always known, this is a real … this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” White House press conference. (https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/17/politics/fact-check-trump-always-knew-pandemic-coronavirus/index.html) (https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1239956622312701952) 179,112 global cases, 7,426 deaths (WHO), U.S. 4,226 cases, 75 deaths (CDC).
March 19: “You’re actually sitting too close. You should really – we should probably get rid of another 75%, 80% of you. I’ll have just two or three that I like in this room.” White House press conference. (https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1240678632361807873)
March 19: “I only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future. Hopefully there will be no need, but we are all in this TOGETHER!” Twitter (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1240391871026864130) Trump didn’t sign the Defense Production Act, which was signed into law in 1950 by Harry S Truman, who, as Kevin M. Kruse noted in response to this tweet (https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1240446891055251457), famously said “the buck stops here,” rather than the “I don’t take responsibility at all” of this president. As of March 23, Trump still hasn’t invoked the Defense Production Act. 209,839 global cases, 8,778 deaths (WHO), U.S. 10,442 cases, 150 deaths (CDC).
March 19: In an interview with Bob Woodward for his new book, Rage, Trump says of the coronavirus that “I always wanted to play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.” He admits he knew that it was deadly and worse than the flu. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-woodward-rage-book-trump/2020/09/09/0368fe3c-efd2-11ea-b4bc-3a2098fc73d4_story.html)
March 20: Yamiche Alcindor asks Trump at his press conference: “When will everyone who needs a coronavirus test be able to get a test?” Trump’s response: “No-one is talking about this except you, which doesn’t surprise me.” Alcindor: “What about people w/ symptoms who cannot get a test?” Trump: “Yeah, well, OK. I’m not— I’m not hearing it.” (https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1241056026872426496) 234,073 global cases, 9,840 deaths (WHO), U.S. 15,219 cases, 201 deaths (CDC). Tests done to date: CDC: 4,524, public health labs: 49,681, commercial labs: 88,000. (https://twitter.com/davidalim/status/1241111313935458305)
March 20: “We haven’t been given the credit we’ve deserved.” White House press conference. (https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1241054458525765634)
March 22: “Ford, General Motors and Tesla are being given the go ahead to make ventilators and other metal products, FAST! @fema Go for it auto execs, lets see how good you are? @RepMarkMeadows @GOPLeader @senatemajldr” (https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1241732681366482944) 292,142 global cases, 12,784 deaths, U.S. 15,219 cases, 201 deaths. This tweet apparently a reference to Ford making respirators in partnership with 3M and GE Healthcare: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/business/ford-3m-ge-ventilators-coronavirus-duplicate-2/index.html
March 23: 332,930 global cases, 14,510 deaths (WHO), U.S. 33,404 cases, 400 deaths (CDC). Dr. Fauci doesn’t appear at Trump’s daily press conference.
March 24: “Our people want to return to work. They will practice Social Distancing and all else, and Seniors will be watched over protectively & lovingly. We can do two things together. THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM! Congress MUST ACT NOW. We will come back strong!” Twitter. (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1242455267603877894) 372,757 global cases, 16,231 deaths (WHO), U.S. 44,183 cases, 544 deaths (CDC).
March 25: “Just reported that the United States has done far more “testing” than any other nation, by far! In fact, over an eight day span, the United States now does more testing than what South Korea (which has been a very successful tester) does over an eight week span. Great job!” Twitter. (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1242824631230308353?s=19) 414,179 global cases, 18,440 deaths (WHO), U.S. 68,440 cases, 994 deaths (CDC). While the U.S. has done a greater number of tests, it also has a much larger population – where Korea has tested 1 of every 170 people, the U.S. has tested 1 of every 1,090 people.
March 26: “I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they are going to be. I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators.” Press conference. (https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1243354645927530498) 462,684 global cases, 49,219 deaths (WHO), U.S. 68,440 cases, 994 deaths (CDC).
March 27: 509,164 global cases, 23,335 deaths (WHO), U.S. 85,356 cases, 1,246 deaths.
Unknown date, likely after official launch of these machines on March 27: Trump secretly sends Abbott Point of Care COVID test systems to Vladimir Putin for his personal use, per Bob Woodward’s 2024 book, War. (https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/08/politics/bob-woodward-book-war-joe-biden-putin-netanyahu-trump/index.html)
March 28: “You can call it a germ. You can call it a flu. You can call it a virus. You can call it many different names. I’m not sure anyone even knows what it is.” Press conference. (https://twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1243670348211654664) 571,678 global cases, 62,514 deaths (WHO), 103,321 cases, 1,668 deaths (CDC).
March 28: “I am giving consideration to a QUARANTINE of developing “hot spots”, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. A decision will be made, one way or another, shortly.” Twitter. (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1243953994743103489) Advance notice of a quarantine order caused many people to leave northern Italy and spread the virus (https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/italys-virus-lockdown-dash-train-69469683). The three states here already had shelter-in-place orders from their governors. Trump subsequently retracted his quarantine suggestion in a pair of tweets (https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1244056559577071616).
March 29: “We sent thousands of generators to New York … the people in New York never distributed the generators.” Press conference, Trump means ventilators. (https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1244394071982051329) 634,835 global cases, 29,957 deaths (WHO), U.S. 122,653 cases, 2,112 deaths (CDC).
March 29: “You’re talking about 2.2 million deaths … So if we can hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000, it’s a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 [thousand] and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job.” (https://www.vox.com/2020/3/30/21199586/us-coronavirus-deaths-trump-200000-good-job)
March 30: “It will go away. You know it–you know it is going away, and it will go away, and we’re going to have a great victory.” (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/29/worst-predictions-about-2020-451444)
March 30: Dr. Stephen M. Hahn of the FDA tweets that the FDA has issued an authorization (on March 29) to Battelle for an N95 mask decontamination system recommended by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine; Trump retweets it with thanks to DeWine. The system does not work and the authorization is revoked by April 30, 2021. (https://twitter.com/SteveFDA/status/1244472087831552004)
March 31: “It’s going to go away, hopefully at the end of the month. And, if not, hopefully it will be soon after that.” (https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/29/worst-predictions-about-2020-451444)
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