Trump Still Has No Plan To Contain Coronavirus
May 13, 2020
Trump ignored warnings, he downplayed the virus and he failed to prepare, making the crisis worse than it needed to be. Trump still hasn’t learned anything.
Trump ignored warnings about supply shortages in February. It took him until April to ramp up production of swabs needed for testing.
NPR: “Despite warnings about supply shortages by health experts and governors at least as early as February, the federal government took until late April to ramp up domestic production of swabs — a universal ingredient in the most common type of COVID-19 test.”
Trump continues to downplay coronavirus and claims cases are falling everywhere as his own task force says it’s spreading across the country.
NBC News: “Trump’s claim that cases are falling everywhere is contradicted by his own task force’s report, obtained by NBC News, showing the virus spreading far from the coasts.”
NBC News Fact Check: “President Donald Trump falsely claimed Monday that the coronavirus is abating in the U.S., despite data showing that the virus is on the rise in some states and a lack of testing leaves experts unsure about infection rates elsewhere.”
Trump still won’t listen to experts. He blocked CDC guidance and is repeatedly contradicted by experts who say the mission is not yet accomplished.
The Hill: “Anthony Fauci delivered a simple message Tuesday: mission not yet accomplished.”
Associated Press: “Advice from the nation’s top disease control experts on how to safely reopen businesses and institutions in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic included detailed instructive guidance and some more restrictive measures than the plan released by the White House last month. The guidance, which was shelved by Trump administration officials, also offered recommendations to help communities decide when to shut facilities down again during future flareups of COVID-19.”
Trump still has no plan. He wasted the past two months when he should’ve been using it to prepare and contain the virus.
Vox: “But the Trump administration wasted the pause. Over the past two months, the US should have built the testing, contact tracing, and quarantine infrastructure necessary to safely end lockdown and transition back to normalcy — as many of our peer countries did. Instead, Trump has substituted showmanship for action, playing the president on TV but refusing to do the actual job. He has both dominated the airwaves and abdicated his duties. As a result, America’s progress against the coronavirus has stalled, even as the lockdown has driven the economy into crisis.”