If you’ve been following the news, you know that COVID-19 has reached the White House. It had reached the White House before, but now it’s hit the “front office.”
In the early days of this disease’s spread (in the United States) the President repeatedly emphasized that everything was “under control” and the virus would just “disappear” in the coming warmer months.
It might be interesting to note that at that time, coronavirus was steadily spreading in Singapore. The average temperature in Singapore is similar to summer in the United States.
Well, since I can’t rely on my memory so much anymore, I did some extensive research on the events leading up to yesterday — here’s what I found. The timeline and events is far from complete — these are just some of the things I found interesting……
May 2018 — The administration disbanded the White House pandemic response team.
July 2019 — The Center for Disease Control (CDC) epidemiologist embedded in China’s disease control agency left her post, and the Administration decided to eliminate the role.
January 22 — Presidential quote: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
January 28 — National Security Advisor to Trump: “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency… This is going to be the roughest thing you face.”
February 2 — Trump quote: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 10 — Trump quote: “Looks like by April, you know in theory when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”
February 26 — Trump quote: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
February 28 — Trump quote: “We’re ordering a lot of supplies. We’re ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn’t be ordering unless it was something like this. But we’re ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
March 2 — Trump quote: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 8 — Trump quote: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine-tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”
March 15 — Trump quote: “This is a very contagious virus. It’s incredible. But it’s something that we have tremendous control over.”
March 30 — Trump quote: “Stay calm, it will go away. You know it — you know it is going away, and it will go away, and we’re going to have a great victory.”
April 2 — Trump tweet: “Massive amounts of medical supplies… are being delivered directly to states… some have insatiable appetites & are never satisfied (politics?). The complainers should have been stocked up and ready long before this crisis hit.”
April 15 — The U.S. death toll passes 30,000
April 23 — 26 million jobless claims
April 24 — U.S. death toll passes 50,000
May 5 — U.S. death toll passes 70,000
May 7 — 33 million jobless claims
May 16 — Trump tweet: “We’ve done a GREAT job on Covid response, making all Governors look good, some fantastic (and that’s OK), but the Lamestream Media doesn’t want to go with that narrative, and the Do Nothing Dems talking point is to say only bad about “Trump”. I made everybody look good, but me!”
May 18 — U.S, death toll passes 90,000
May 27 — U.S. death toll passes 100,000
May 29 — Trump quote: “We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization.”
June 6 — U.S. death toll passes 110,000
June 18 — Trump quote: “And it is dying out. The numbers are starting to get very good.”
June 22 — U.S. death toll passes 120,000
June 30 — The U.S. has just 4% of the global population, but 25% of global coronavirus cases and the second highest death rate per capita.
July 6 — U.S. death toll passes 130,000
July 18 — U.S. death toll passes 140,000
July 28 — U.S. death toll passes 150,000
August 3 — Trump quote: “I think we are doing very well and I think… as well as any nation.”
August 6 — U.S. death toll passes 160,000
August 16 — U.S. death toll passes 170,000
August 26 — U.S. death toll passes 180,000
August 31 — Trump quote: “We’ve done a great job in Covid but we don’t get the credit.”
September 9 — U.S. death toll passes 190,000
September 14 — Trump was asked if he is afraid of Coronavirus risk at his rallies: “I’m on a stage, it’s very far away, so I’m not at all concerned.”
September 19 — U.S. death toll passes 200,000
September 23 — Trump quote: “I think we’re rounding the turn very much.”
October 2 — Trump and First Lady test positive for Coronavirus.
There’s no particular point to all this — I found it extremely interesting to go back in time and remember how this all played out. I remember someone I play golf with telling me back in March that as soon as the weather got warm, the virus would just “die.” I guess a lot of people thought that… a lot of us didn’t. Stay healthy…. and vote.
I wish the President and First Lady all the best — nobody deserves this disease or its consequences.
— 30 —