he did none of those things. i’ve reviewed all of his public statements and actions on coronavirus over the last two months, and they show a president who put almost no priority on public health. trump’s priorities were different: making the virus sound like a minor nuisance. exaggerating his administration’s response. blaming foreigners and, anachronistically, the obama administration. claiming incorrectly that the situation was improving. trying to cheer up stock market investors. (it was fitting that his first public comments were from davos and on cnbc.) now that the severity of the virus is undeniable, trump is already trying to present an alternate history of the last two months. below are the facts — a timeline of what the president was saying, alongside statements from public-health experts as well as data on the virus. late january on the same day that trump was dismissing the risks on cnbc, tom frieden, who ran the centers for disease control and prevention for eight years, wrote an op-ed for the health care publication stat. in it, frieden warned that the virus would continue spreading. “we need to learn — and fast — about how it spreads,” he wrote. it was one of many such warnings from prominent experts in late january. many focused on the need to expand the capacity to test for the virus. in a wall street journal article titled, “act now to prevent an american epidemic,” luciana borio and scott gottlieb — both former trump administration officials — wrote: if public-health authorities don’t interrupt the spread soon, the virus could infect many thousands more around the globe, disrupt air travel, overwhelm health care systems, and, worst of all, claim more lives. the good news: there’s still an opening to prevent a grim outcome. … but authorities can’t act quickly without a test that can diagnose the condition rapidly. trump, however, repeatedly told americans that there was no reason to worry. on jan. 24, he tweeted, “it will all work out well.” on jan. 28, he retweeted a headline from one america news, an outlet with a history of spreading false conspiracy theories: “johnson & johnson to create coronavirus vaccine.” on jan. 30, during a speech in michigan, he said: “we have it very well under control. we have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. and those people are all recuperating successfully.” that same day, the world health organization declared coronavirus to be a “public-health emergency of international concern.” it announced 7,818 confirmed cases around the world.
getting on with the job this week — scottish national party