- As of Tuesday, more than 120,000 Americans died from COVID-19, but President Donald Trump wants the “Fake New” media to report his response to the coronavirus in a more “positive” light.
- Trump refused to take the virus seriously in the first days of the outbreak, minimizing the threat for weeks.
- His administration failed in key aspects of its response, notably establishing a robust test system.
- The United States has the highest number of reported coronavirus cases and confirmed deaths in the world.
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President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized the “Fake News” media for failing to turn his disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused more than 120,000 reported deaths and devastated the United States economy.
In a couple of tweets, Trump said: “We did a great job on CoronaVirus, including China’s very early ban, fan production, and testing, which is by far the best and the best in the world. We saved millions of The United States lives, however, Fake News refuses to acknowledge this in a positive way, but they give Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is with us in every way, a very high approval rating of 72%. He’s in charge with VP, etc., and with us doing all these really good things, why isn’t Lamestream Media treating us like they should? Answer: Because it’s fake news! “
Trump’s description of his handling of COVID-19 is ahistorical.
In the early days of the virus, Trump ignored warnings from top experts and advisers of an impending pandemic, as he simultaneously downplayed the threat for weeks. On February 26, for example, when senior public health officials warned that coronavirus infections in the US USA They would increase, Trump told the public that the number of cases would be “close to zero” in a couple of days. As of Tuesday, there were more than 2.3 million reported cases of coronavirus in the US. According to Johns Hopkins, the largest number of confirmed infections in the world by far.
Trump also declined to follow his own administration’s guidelines when it comes to the virus, refusing to wear a mask or face covering despite strong evidence that it can help prevent the spread and save lives.
The United States and South Korea had their first confirmed cases of coronavirus on the same day in January. The South Korean government responded quickly and took the virus seriously from the start. The Trump administration reacted slowly, led by a president who refused to acknowledge the reality of the situation. South Korea has seen fewer than 300 reported deaths from coronavirus, while the United States has the highest number of confirmed deaths in the world.
Workers move the bodies to a refrigerated truck from the Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Home in the Brooklyn District of New York on Wednesday, April 29, 2020.
AP Photo / Craig Ruttle
Although Trump boasted of his travel restrictions to China in his tweets on Tuesday, they were imposed after the virus had already reached the US. USA Additionally, approximately 40,000 people still made it to the US. USA From China after restrictions were announced due to exemptions.
And although tests to detect the virus in the US USA They’ve gotten better, a big part of why COVID-19 hit the country so badly is due to the fact that it struggled to establish a robust test system and lagged behind much of the world in this regard for weeks. This made it difficult for officials to get an idea of the extent of the outbreak within the borders of the United States.
The federal government also struggled to provide essential medical supplies to states, leaving frontline health care workers in the richest nation on the planet to use trash bags as protective equipment in some cases. Some states accepted aid or ordered supplies from other countries, including China.
Trump has also tolerated the country’s rapid reopening, despite warnings from public health experts that doing so could exacerbate the U.S. outbreak. USA States that were among the first to ease coronavirus restrictions, such as Texas and Florida, have recently emerged as hotspots. Trump falsely blamed this on increased testing, even as positive test rates declined in other states such as New York and New Jersey, which were among the worst affected in the country in the first days of the outbreak.
The president has spent much of the coronavirus pandemic shifting blame rather than seeking solutions to the myriad of problems associated with the federal government’s response. Former US diplomats warned that their response to the coronavirus has left the United States alone and embarrassed on the world stage, greatly damaging the United States’ credibility with other countries. And top public health experts have characterized Trump’s handling of the coronavirus as “abysmal.”
The first reported coronavirus death in the US USA It was 115 days ago, on February 29. In the time since then, more Americans have died under Trump surveillance than all combat deaths in the American wars since 1945 combined.
Trump wants the media to discuss his response to the coronavirus in a “positive way,” but to do so would be at odds with reality. Meanwhile, the virus continues to ravage communities across the United States, and the Trump administration has begun to behave as if the pandemic was a thing of the past.
