Trump and the Corona Virus

Higgins, T. (2020, March 23). In coronavirus tweet storm, Trump touts suspect 'cure' and potential easing   of guidelines to boost economy. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/23/in-coronavirus-tweet-    storm-trump-touts-suspect-cure.html

In the month of February 2020, as global cases of the virus increased from about 12,000 to over 85,000, Trump tweeted or retweeted nearly 900 messages, of which just 20 mentioned the coronavirus. Between February 1 and February 23, Trump posted only two tweets about the coronavirus where both of those tweets were about his conversation with China's president Xi Jinping, who Trump claimed will be successful in defeating the virus as the weather got warmer and hoped that the virus will get weaker and then disappear. Trump took his first real step to contain the coronavirus in late January when he imposed travel restrictions to the US from China. But he did not do enough to slow the spread in the United States in the month of February, during which period the first US resident died of COVID-19, and instead downplayed the virus.

Higgins continues to state that Trump later released several posts spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, reprimanding the World Health Organization for failing to release early warnings, criticizing his political rivalries and the media. For some time, Trump was in denial of Covid19 and didn’t see any reason for Americans to be worried. He had it under control. According to Higgins, Donald Trump posted on Twitter promoting a doubtful article that suggested a cure was at hand. In other tweets and retweets, Trump signaled his anxiety about the economic toll the disease was inflicting on the American economy and suggested that he could ease up on the 15-day guidelines the White House had imposed.

According to Higgins, Trump also suggested he would support the decision of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over whether to cancel the Tokyo Olympics and expressed opposition to the release of some inmates from crowded prisons, which is happened in several states as a public health precaution for low-level offenders and the elderly.

On February 29th Trump seemed to not take the virus serious saying 74 confirmed cases and one death were still low. People could fly to most destinations in the world. In March 9, nothing serious was done to curb the spread of the virus. In fact, the president began comparing COVID19 with the deaths caused by flu. He tweeted  

"So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!"  

On March 13th 2020, Trump declared a national emergency and despite having ignored the danger of COVID19, went ahead to claim US acted early. On March 16th 2020 more measures were taken. New social distancing guidelines were announced as the number cases went high.

On May 28, after months of dealing with COVID19, Trump still blames the virus on China  

The number of deaths at this time has reached 100,000 with cases in the millions. He tweeted:

"All over the World the CoronaVirus, a very bad “gift” from China, marches on. Not good!"  

Trump’s way of reacting to the pandemic is not clear yet as his stand continues to change every now and then. Sometimes he takes it serious sometimes he doesn’t.  

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