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Trump Downplayed Coronavirus Threat Throughout February

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - The White House campaign-style video promoting President
   Donald Trump's defense of his actions combating the emerging
   coronavirus threat earlier this year skips over his actions during the
   entire month of February, when he often downplayed concerns.

   At the end of January, Trump imposed restrictions on travel from China
   where the virus first erupted. By mid-March, he declared a national
   emergency.

   "This is a pandemic," Trump said at a March 17 news conference. "I felt
   it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."

   But in February, as the coronavirus threat grew across the world, and
   the first cases emerged in the United States, Trump belittled the
   threat.

   Now, the president is trying to defend himself against news accounts
   showing that he was warned in February about the advance of the virus
   in the United States, even as he publicly dismissed concerns and said
   health officials had it under control.

   Critics say February was a missed opportunity to move faster to
   recommend that Americans stay two meters away from other people, a
   position Trump adopted in mid-March and then extended through April.
   Later, he said Americans should consider wearing face masks in public,
   though he said he had no intention of wearing one.

   The coronavirus death toll in the U.S. is now more than 23,000, with
   more than 582,000 confirmed cases. Both figures are more than in any
   other country, although this week officials say the number of new cases
   is leveling off, suggesting that the coronavirus threat may have
   reached a peak in the U.S.

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