I wrote what follows in summer 2020. It's not exhaustive, and I thought the its usefulness passed by early 2021. Consequently, I had not checked for broken links until recently, when I learned that a number of CDC and White House articles had been deleted or archived. Also recently, I have learned that the "Trump Did Nothing" myth is still believed and circulating. I light of this, I have checked all the links for the events I cited, replaced all but one broken link, and added a few to some events for good measure.
I'm not campaigning for Trump, just providing facts to counter a partisan myth.
Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Lisa Roberts claimed: "Trump wasted more than two months of precious time downplaying the threat of this crisis ...", https://www.mainedems.org/media/new-trump-wasted-two-months-coronavirus-response-does-senator-collins-still-think-he-did-lot . While some of the criticism claiming two months wasted focuses on masks, other PPE, and ventilators - items hospitals should have, and of which city, county, and state health commissions should have emergency supplies stockpiled, Roberts' claim is far more broad. She claimed that two months - January and February - were "wasted". The specific issue of masks, other PPE, and ventilators will be addressed elsewhere. The proper focus at first was on things that are the immediate responsibilities of the US government: dealings with foreign nations and matters handled by various Federal agencies such as the FDA, CDC, and NIH. So, what of the general, "Trump wasted two months," claim? What did Trump do in January with regard to what came to be called Covid-19?
First, the context in which Trump and his Administration were acting in January, 2020:
* Until January 20, 2020, China and the "scientists" at the World Health Organization assured the world that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of Covid-19, https://www.who.int/csr/don/14-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-thailand-ex-china/en/ , http://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020012009077 (Chinese language), https://abcnews.go.com/Health/human-human-transmission-coronavirus-reported-china/story?id=68403105 ;
* The first US case of Covid-19 was confirmed on January 20, 2020, and by February 15th a total of 15 cases had been confirmed in the US, https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ , "Total Coronavirus Cases in the United States" graph.
Here are some of the actions of the Trump Administration in January:
January 4, 6, 28, 2020 - CDC Director Robert Redfield offers to send technical experts to China: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/03/how-much-pressure-did-trump-put-china-access-concerning-coronavirus/ (behind paywall); https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/01/28/cdc-offers-china-help-as-coronavirus-outbreak-grows-according-to-report/#5b15af734ee4 ; https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/r/r46354
January 6, 2020 - CDC issued a Level 1 travel notice for Wuhan, China; https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/r/r46354
January 7, 2020 - CDC established a coronavirus incident management system; https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6905e1.htm
January 8, 2020 - CDC alert to clinicians to ask patients with "severe respiratory illness" whether they had traveled to Wuhan; https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00424.asp (broken)
January 17, 2020 - The US started screening arriving passengers from China; JFK, SFO, LAX https://www.businessinsider.com/new-disease-virus-china-us-airports-screening-cdc-2020-1 ; O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson ; January 22, 2020 - https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/21/us-screenings-coronavirus-expanded-airports-atlanta-chicago/ (paywall), https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/ohare-screening-wuhan-coronavirus-six-die-hundreds-sickened-asia/ , https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html
January 20, 2020 - CDC activated its emergency operations center; https://emergency.cdc.gov/recentincidents/recentincidents_2020.asp
January 22, 2020 - Pharmaceuticals company Moderna working with US government to develop vaccine; https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/22/moderna-is-working-on-a-vaccine-for-chinas-deadly-coronavirus.html , https://news.modernatx.com/news/news-details/2020/Moderna-Announces-Funding-Award-from-CEPI-to-Accelerate-Development-of-Messenger-RNA-mRNA-Vaccine-Against-Novel-Coronavirus/default.aspx
January 23, 2020 - CDC sought “special emergency authorization” from FDA to allow states to use its coronavirus test; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-cdc-idUSKBN1ZM2XS
January 27, 2020 - US CDC issues highest-level travel health notice, Level 3, recommending that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to China; State Department raises its own travel advisory for all of China to Level 3 of 4, urging U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel”, while retaining its Level 4 travel advisory for Hubei Province; https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/travel-alert-level-4-do-not-travel-to-hubei/ , https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/01/24/coronavirus-outbreak-leads-state-department-issue-level-4-advisory/4562349002/ , https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html
January 28, 2020 - AbCellera is mobilizing its pandemic response platform against the outbreak of Covid-19; Since 2018, under the DARPA Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program, AbCellera has been leading a team of partners to establish a platform for pandemic response capable of developing field-ready medical countermeasures within 60 days of isolation of an unknown viral pathogen; https://www.abcellera.com/news/2020-01-abcellera-mobilizing-a-response-to-novel-coronavirus
January 29, 2020 - White House announced the formation of the Coronavirus Task Force; https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/480627-white-house-announces-task-force-to-monitor-coronavirus , https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-launches-coronavirus-task-force
January 30, 2020 - Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the Center for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said, "We are preparing as if this was the next pandemic"; https://abcnews.go.com/Health/delta-suspends-us-flights-china-amid-coronavirus/story?id=68666037 , https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/84739
January 31, 2020 - HHS Secretary Azar declared a public health emergency; https://abcnews.go.com/Health/delta-suspends-us-flights-china-amid-coronavirus/story?id=68666037 , https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/r/r46354
January 31, 2020 - State Department raised the travel advisory for China to Level 4, do not travel; https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-flight-ban-delta-cuts-all-flights-white-house/4620989002/
January 31, 2020 - People entering the US from China forbidden; Announced January 31, effective February 2; https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/02/us/coronavirus-us-travel-restrictions/index.html , https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-virus-outbreak-9e22f8aabe2f454593b9f9b4c67eb31f , https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/r/r46354
Among other things, these actions in January and February 2020 led to two of the vaccines that received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), two monoclonal antibody treatments that received EUA, and an antiviral drug being approved for treating Covid.
During these two months Trump and his administration also set up the organizational structure and legal groundwork for all that was done in the 11 months following February 2020. As other posts in this blog show, "all that was done" was a lot.
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