(published on March 26 on Facebook)
Here’s what Trump has said about the coronavirus pandemic so far:
January 22–“We have it totally under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
February 2–“We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 24–“Coronavirus is very much under control in USA…Stock market starting to look good to me.”
–“The situation is under control.”
February 25–“CDC and my administration doing a Great Job of handling coronavirus.”
–“I think that’s a problem that’s going to go away…in fact we’re very close to a vaccine.”
–“The risk to the American people remains very low.”
February 26–“We have contained this.”
–“The numbers of cases within a couple of days is going to be down close to zero.”
–“We’re going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27–“One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28–“We’re ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
February 29–“This is their (the Democrats’) new hoax.”
March 2–“A lot of things are happening a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
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 got better.”
March 5–“I NEVER said people that are sick should go to work.”
–“A lot of people will have this, and it’s very mild.”
March 6–“U.S. coronavirus cases are lower than just about everybody.”
–“Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there, and the tests are beautiful…the tests are all perfect…like the letter was perfect, right? This was
not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
–“I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it…Every one of them has said, “How do you know so much about this?”
March 9–“This blindsided the world.”
March 11–“We’re going to fix a problem that four weeks ago nobody ever thought would be a problem.”
March 12–“Testing will happen soon on a very large scale basis. All Red Tape has been cut, ready to go!”
March 13–“I take no responsibility at all (for the failure in testing). We’re doing a great job.”
March 15–“Try gettting it (masks and protective equipment and ventilators) yourselves–we are not a shipping clerk.”
March 17–“I’ve always known this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was a pandemic.”
March 23–“We’re near the end of our historic battle with COVID-19. We’re now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”
–“We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself…we’re going to be opening up our country…”
March 24–“I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter…the churches will be packed.”
March 26–“We have to open up our country, I’m sorry.”
–“I think you’ll see a very fast turnaround.
On February 15, there were 15 cases in the United States and 0 deaths.
We have just passed Italy and China and are now Number One in the world in our number of active coronavirus cases.
As of today, there are now 83,144 cases of coronavirus in the U,.S.
There have been 1,20l deaths.
Thirteen people died in one hospital in New York City today.
New Orleans is experiencing a sharp spike in cases.
So is Atlanta.
There are new hot spots in Detroit and Chicago.
New York is rapidly running out of supplies. At one hospital, the doctors and nurses are wearing garbage bags instead of protective gowns.
And the TV screens are full of doctors and nurses who are at their wits’ end and begging for help. The word “dire” occurs constantly.
Stay well.
Stay inside.
Connie Willis