Initial events and task force formation (right) delivers remarks at a Coronavirus Task Force briefing on February 29, accompanied by Alex Azar (left) and
Anthony Fauci. Trump administration officials were briefed about the coronavirus outbreak in China on January 3, 2020. Health officials first substantially briefed the president about the virus on January 18, when HHS secretary
Alex Azar called Trump while he was at
Mar-a-Lago. On January 27, then-acting chief of staff
Mick Mulvaney convened a meeting with White House aides to draw greater attention to the virus among senior officials. On February 26, Trump appointed Vice President
Mike Pence to take charge of the nation's response to the virus. On March 11, during an
Oval Office address, Trump announced that he had requested a number of other policy changes: • He would ask Congress to provide financial relief and paid sick leave for workers who were quarantined or had to care for others. • He would instruct the
Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide loans to businesses affected by the pandemic, and would ask Congress for an additional $50 billion to help hard-hit businesses. • He would request that tax payments be deferred beyond April 15 without penalty for those affected, which he said could add $200 billion in temporary liquidity to the economy. • He would ask Congress to provide payroll tax relief to those affected. At this point, the federal government neared agreement on a stimulus proposal including direct cash payments to Americans. Trump announced that the Small Business Administration would be providing disaster loans which could provide impacted businesses with up to $2 million.
FEMA was put in charge of procuring medical supplies on March 17. On March 18, Trump announced that the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would be suspending all kinds of foreclosures and evictions until the end of April. The week of March 19, the
Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered federally guaranteed loan providers to grant
forbearance of up to a year on mortgage payments from people who lost income due to the pandemic. It encouraged the same for non-federal loans and included a pass-through provision for landlords to grant forbearance to renters who lost income. On March 20, Trump announced that the Department of Education would not be enforcing standardized testing for 2020. Trump had also instructed to waive all federally held student loans for the next 60 days, which could be extended if needed. Treasury Secretary
Steven Mnuchin announced that the deadline for several federal filings including income tax returns and payments would be extended to July 15, 2020. On March 22, Trump announced that he had directed FEMA to build four large medical stations with 1,000 beds for New York, eight large medical stations with 2,000 beds for California, and three large medical stations and four small medical stations with 1,000 beds for the State of Washington. On March 23, Trump postponed the October 1, 2020, deadline for Americans on commercial airlines to carry
Real ID-compliant documents. On April 3, Trump announced that the federal government would use funds from the CARES Act to pay hospitals for treatment of
uninsured patients infected with the coronavirus. On April 20, Trump said he would sign an executive order to temporarily suspend
immigration to the U.S. because of the pandemic. A
public–private partnership named
Operation Warp Speed was begun to rapidly develop vaccines for the disease. On March 30, HHS announced the first grant to a vaccine in development with $456 million allocated to
Johnson & Johnson. Additional funds were approved for
Moderna,
AstraZeneca,
Regeneron,
Novavax,
Pfizer, and a partnership between
Sanofi and
GlaxoSmithKline. The program's timeline was formally announced on May 15. Two of the vaccines, Moderna's and Pfizer's, were given emergency use authorization by the
FDA in December 2020, allowing a public vaccination campaign to commence.
Travel and entry restrictions in
Puerto Rico on March 17, 2020 On January 31, three major U.S. airlines (Delta, American, and United) announced that beginning in early February they would suspend flights between the U.S. and China, CDC director
Robert Redfield refused to administer COVID-19 tests to returning Americans. • On March 2, travel restrictions were implemented on foreign nationals who had been in Iran within the previous two weeks. An exemption was made for immediate family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. This measure was announced on February 29. • On March 12, the CDC recommended against any non-essential travel to China, most of Europe, Iran, Malaysia, and South Korea. The following week, the
U.S. Department of State recommended that U.S. citizens not travel abroad, while those who are abroad should "arrange for immediate return to the United States" unless prepared to remain abroad indefinitely. • On March 19, the State Department suspended routine visa services at all American embassies and consulates worldwide. • By March 20, the U.S. began barring entry to foreign nationals who had been in 28 European countries within the past 14 days. American citizens,
permanent residents, and their immediate families returning from abroad could re-enter the United States under the new restrictions, but those returning from one of the specified countries would have to undergo health screenings and submit to quarantines and monitoring for up to 14 days. In addition to the earlier travel restrictions in place, Trump extended this quarantine and monitoring requirement to those coming from Iran and the entirety of China. Flights from all restricted countries were required to land at one of 13 airports where the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had "enhanced" entry screenings. At least 241 foreigners (including several Canadians), who had recently traveled in China and Iran, were denied entry to the United States between February2 and March 3. • On April 21, President Trump announced a forthcoming
executive order barring people from seeking
green cards for a period of 60 days.
Containment efforts within the U.S. On January 30, the WHO warned that "all countries should be prepared for containment, including active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management,
contact tracing and prevention of onward spread" of the virus. February 25 was the first day the CDC told the American public to prepare for an outbreak. By February, the CDC was exploring options to control the spread of COVID-19 in the United States. Six cities believed to be high-risk were selected for early "sentinel surveillance" to try to detect the virus in patients who did not meet CDC guidelines for testing; those cities were Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Honolulu. Very few tests were successfully completed within a five-week window. Once testing showed the disease was spreading among those without travel-related risk factors, public officials in California began to issue "stay at home" orders; it would be at least a week before similar orders were issued in other parts of the country. At a White House press briefing on April 1,
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said that, even though he expected social distancing rules could eventually be relaxed even before the availability of a vaccine, a vaccine would still be necessary to end the pandemic. screen out-of-state travelers at the
Amtrak station in
Shelby, Montana, on April 3, 2020. As part of the early efforts to contain and mitigate the pandemic within the United States, Surgeon General
Jerome Adams announced in early March that local leaders would soon have to consider whether to cancel large gatherings, consider telework policies, and close schools. Over the next few weeks, a number of states imposed
stay-at-home orders of diverse scope and severity, which placed limits on where people could travel, work and shop away from their homes. By March 21, governors in New York, California and other large states had ordered most businesses to close and for people to stay inside, with limited exceptions. Coronavirus Response Coordinator
Deborah Birx cited an
analysis by Imperial College London that if nothing was done by government officials, 2.2 million would die in the United States. The researchers recommended enforced social distancing for the entire population and closing all schools and universities. The White House recommended "
social distancing". One month later, epidemiologists Britta Jewell and Nicholas Jewell estimated that, had social distancing policies been implemented just two weeks earlier, U.S. deaths due to COVID-19 might have been reduced by 90%. In late March, Trump announced that the National Guard would be deployed to California, New York, and Washington, and FEMA would send large medical stations with thousands of beds to the three states. The city of Chicago said it would rent more than a thousand empty hotel rooms to house coronavirus patients who need to be isolated but do not require hospitalization. Containment and care facilities would include two Navy hospital ships. arrived in Los Angeles on March 27, and arrived in New York City on March 30. On March 28, the president said he had decided not to enact a tri-state lockdown of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, after having publicly suggested earlier in the day he was considering such a move; instead he ordered the CDC to issue a travel advisory suggesting voluntary travel limitations in these states. Buildings normally used for sports and entertainment were transformed into field hospitals. The
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, for instance, was postponed to October and the fairgrounds where it is normally held was turned into a medical center. To prepare housing for homeless persons, states such as California have procured private hotels and motels as emergency shelters and isolation spaces. Manpower from the military and volunteer armies were called up to help construct the emergency facilities. On March 31, Birx reiterated the projection of 1.5 million to 2.2 million deaths if government officials did nothing to stop the virus, compared with 100,000 to 240,000 deaths if measures such as social distancing were taken. As April began, various state and local officials, including the mayors of New York and Los Angeles, and the governors or health departments of Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island encouraged residents to wear non-medical cloth face coverings while in public, as an additional measure to prevent unknowingly infecting others. The CDC issued a similar recommendation on April 3. Health officials generally advised against the use of medical-grade PPE (such as
surgical masks and
respirators) by the general public, preferring to save them for healthcare personnel due to shortages. In early May, the
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the
University of Washington predicted the American death toll would reach 137,000 by early August. An October 2020 report in
The Washington Post cited poor infection controls in some nursing homes resulting from mismanagement and reduced enforcement efforts by the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Trump Administration as significantly contributing to tens of thousands of deaths in those facilities.
Communication briefing on February 29 In January 2020, President Trump disregarded warnings from his administration's officials about the threat the virus posed to the United States in favor of the country's economic considerations. He publicly downplayed the danger until mid-March, making numerous optimistic statements, including that the outbreak was "under control" and being overcome, or that the virus would somehow vanish. On February 26, speaking of the number of known infected in the country at the time, Trump predicted "the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero—that's a pretty good job we've done." By the end of March,
The Washington Post described Trump's pronouncements as having "evolved from casual dismissal to reluctant acknowledgment to bellicose mobilization". When asked about his initial dismissive comments, Trump explained that he wanted to "give people hope" as a "cheerleader for the country", although he "knew everything". On March 11, 2020, Trump gave an Oval Office address where he announced an imminent travel ban between Europe and the United States. The announcement caused chaos in European and American airports, as Americans abroad scrambled to get flights back to the United States. The administration later had to clarify that the travel ban applied to foreigners coming from the
Schengen Area, and later added Ireland and the UK to the list. The flawed rollout of the travel ban led to hours-long waits and crowded lines at major airports for incoming passengers to the U.S., causing a public health hazard. Trump also listed several economic policy proposals designed to provide tax relief for workers, aid small businesses, and fight the spread of the virus. Trump declared that insurance companies "have agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments". (After the speech, the
America's Health Insurance Plans association clarified that the waivers were only for tests, not for treatments.) On March 13, Trump declared the coronavirus to be a national emergency, freeing up $50 billion in federal funds to fight the outbreak. Starting March 16, Trump began to hold daily press briefings on the coronavirus situation, lasting from an hour to more than two hours and usually broadcast live by the television networks. On March 16, Trump said for the first time that the coronavirus was "not under control", and the situation was "bad" with months of impending disruption to daily lives, and a recession possible. Also on March 16, Trump and the Coronavirus Task Force released new recommendations based on CDC guidelines for Americans, titled "15 Days to Slow the Spread". These recommendations included physical distancing and hygienic instructions, as well as directions to the states in dealing with school closures, nursing homes, and common public venues. On March 17, a French doctor made an online report of a small clinical study claiming good results treating coronavirus patients with the anti-malaria drug
hydroxychloroquine. On March 18, the German drug manufacturer Bayer offered to donate millions of doses of the drug to the FDA. The next day, March 19, Trump promoted hydroxychloroquine and
chloroquine during his daily briefing as potential treatments by prescription for COVID-19. For the next several weeks Trump continued to promote the drug as a potential "game changer" in treatment of the virus. Within days of his first mention of the drug, a shortage occurred for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in the United States, while
panic buying occurred overseas in Africa and South Asia. On March 22, Trump indicated a desire to scale back physical distancing measures, saying: "We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself." Despite having said in a previous briefing that he preferred to have mitigation measures be controlled by individual states because it was compatible with
the Constitution, Trump said at an April 13 briefing that, as president, he has the "ultimate authority"; Pence affirmed that the powers of the president are "plenary" during a national emergency. On April 16, Trump assured governors "you are going to call your own shots" about relaxing restrictions. On April 17, Trump gave a public call to "liberate" Michigan, Virginia, and Minnesota after protests occurred against stay-at-home orders issued by the Democratic governors of these states. Trump praised and encouraged protestors who violated stay-at-home orders in Democratic states, as well as praised Republican governors who violated the White House's own coronavirus guidelines regarding re-opening their economies. By April, criticism of his administration's response grew, prompting Trump to blame many others for the state of the crisis, including the media, Democratic governors, the Obama administration, China, and the WHO. His positions and statements undermined international confidence in the United States to lead the world in pandemic response. On April 15, Trump said government data showed the U.S. was "past the peak" of the epidemic and was "in a very strong position to finalize guidelines for states on reopening the country". He announced a temporary halt on funding to the WHO over its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, and alleged Chinese favoritism, pending a review. The next day, April 16, the administration unveiled new federal guidelines for a three-phased approach to restoring normal commerce and services, but only for places with strong testing and seeing a decrease in COVID-19 cases. injections or exposure to
ultraviolet light might help treat COVID-19. There is no evidence that either could be a viable method. During an Oval Office meeting on April 23, William Byron, an official from the
Department of Homeland Security, offered Trump a brief presentation on the effect of
disinfectants and sunlight on the virus on surfaces, which had been discussed during the earlier Situation Room meeting. Following Byron's presentation at the press briefing Trump began asking questions and suggested the possibility that light or disinfectants could be used inside the human body to cure coronavirus. Trump's remarks prompted doctors, lawmakers and the makers of the disinfectant brand
Lysol to respond with incredulity and warnings against ingesting disinfectant chemicals. On May 1, the CDC presented a 17-page report titled "Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework" to the administration. It had been written to provide advice for faith leaders, places of business and other public places, educators, and state and local officials as they began to reopen. The White House refused to use the report, and Trump said he felt the guidelines were too restrictive. Reports of new cases began to level off in May and most states began to open restaurants and other places of business, placing limits to the numbers of people allowed in the establishment at the same time. Dr. Fauci warned that if caution was not used the rate of infections could rebound and he was particularly concerned about opening the schools in the fall. Trump replied to Fauci's statements in an interview, saying, "we have to get the schools open, we have to get our country open, we have to open our country ... We have to get it open. I totally disagree with him [Fauci] on schools." after being treated for COVID-19. On October 2, 2020, both Trump and his wife tested positive for COVID-19 as part of
a larger outbreak amid the White House. While being treated at
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Trump tweeted in support for more economic stimulus before halting and then reengaging talks.
Pressure on health agencies Trump repeatedly pressured federal health agencies to take particular actions that he favored. He once claimed that there is a "deep state" conspiracy causing federal health agencies to delay approval of vaccines and treatments in order to hurt him politically. At a
campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 20, 2020, Trump said he had instructed his administration to slow down coronavirus testing in order to keep the number of confirmed cases down. This claim was contradicted in sworn testimony by the federal health officials in charge of coronavirus response. On the
Fourth of July, Trump said that the United States was testing too much, and that "by so doing, we show cases, 99% of which are totally harmless."
Food and Drug Administration commissioner
Dr. Stephen Hahn declined to confirm Trump's comments. The WHO estimated 15% of COVID-19 cases become severe and 5% become critical. Trump wanted to get speedy approval of
convalescent plasma, and he complained that people within the health agencies who opposed him were deliberately delaying approval of treatments and vaccines until after the election. He wanted to be able to announce it as a treatment breakthrough at the
2020 Republican National Convention, but the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had concerns about its effectiveness. On the Wednesday before the convention he ordered Dr. Francis S. Collins, head of the NIH, to "get it done by Friday." In September 2020, it was reported that political appointees at the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) tried repeatedly to change, delay, or remove reports about COVID-19 from the CDC's
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) if they undermined Trump's claims that the outbreak was under control. A report downplaying the benefit of hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment was delayed for almost a month as the HHS team raised questions about the political leanings of the authors. In emails to the head of CDC, officials at HHS accused MMWR scientists attempting to "hurt the president" and writing "hit pieces on the administration". One official tried unsuccessfully to get all issues of MMWR held up until he personally approved them. CDC resisted many of the changes, but increasingly allowed HHS personnel to review articles and suggest changes before publication. On September 17, it was reported that the new guidelines had been written by the White House coronavirus task force, and been "dropped into" the CDC website by officials in the HHS over the objections of CDC scientists. A July document on "The importance of reopening schools" was also placed on the CDC website by HHS rather than CDC scientists. Two former directors of the CDC said that the notion of political appointees or non-scientists posting information to the CDC website is "absolutely chilling" and undermines the credibility of the institution.
Administration officials (third from left) speaks to the press. During the early stages of the outbreak, government officials gave mixed assessments of the seriousness and scale of the outbreak. CDC Director Robert R. Redfield said in late January that "the immediate risk to the American public is low," then in late February said it would be "prudent to assume this pathogen will be with us for some time to come". Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi appeared on television encouraging people to visit the
Chinatown neighborhood of her San Francisco district. While federal economic policy chief Larry Kudlow declared the coronavirus containment "pretty close to airtight". Dr.
Nancy Messonnier (head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases) and Anthony Fauci (head of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) warned of the impending community spread of the virus in the United States, with Messonnier stating: "Disruption to everyday life might be severe." Around this point,
Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, warned of national medical supplies being disrupted due to the outbreak. In early March, the
U.S. Surgeon General, Vice Admiral
Jerome Adams, declared that "this is likely going to get worse before it gets better." In February 2020, the CDC was notifying the press it expected the infections to spread, and urged local governments, businesses, and schools to develop plans for the outbreak. Among the suggested preparations were canceling mass gatherings, switching to teleworking, and planning for continued business operations in the face of increased absenteeism or disrupted supply chains. CDC officials warned that widespread transmission may force large numbers of people to seek hospitalization and other healthcare, which may overload healthcare systems. A March 14 article on NBC said CDC officials wanted to recommend everyone over 60 remain inside their homes whenever possible but was instructed by the Trump administration to not say that. Public health officials stressed that local governments would need assistance from the federal government if there were school and business closures. On March 23, Surgeon General
Jerome Adams made several media appearances, in which he endorsed physical distancing measures and warned the country: "This week, it's going to get bad... we really, really need everyone to stay at home ... Every single second counts. And right now, there are not enough people out there who are taking this seriously." On April 5, Anthony Fauci said that as many as 50% of coronavirus carriers may be asymptomatic. In late April, Trump's adviser and son-in-law,
Jared Kushner, declared that in response to the pandemic "the federal government rose to the challenge, and this is a great success story." By mid-May, media appearances of senior federal health officials had been sharply reduced. Six CDC staff members spoke to
CNN for a story published on May 20. The officials said the CDC was not trusted by the White House and had "been muzzled", with their post-March recommendations "watered down". In early May, President Trump proposed that the coronavirus task force be phased out to accommodate another group centered on reopening the economy. Amid a backlash, Trump publicly stated that the coronavirus task force would continue "indefinitely". However, by the end of May, the coronavirus task force was meeting far less frequently. After Trump himself tested positive for COVID-19 on October 2, he was admitted into Walter Reed. After a press briefing by the President's personal physician on October 4, an administration source close to the President stated that Trump was admitted due to concerns over "worsening" vitals and conditions. This source was later identified by the
AP as White House Chief of Staff
Mark Meadows, who was caught on camera asking to be
"off the record" after the physician ended the press briefing. Meadows' statement to the press contradicted statements and stances given by the physician during the press conference. During the same press conference, the physician also confused reporters when he mistakenly stated that Trump's diagnosis was for the "past 72 hours", later clarifying that he meant the past three days. Over a year later, Meadows revealed that Trump had actually tested positive (and also negative from another test) prior to debating Biden on September 29.
Suppression of whistleblowers The Trump administration replaced
Christi Grimm as Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services after she produced a report documenting severe shortages of medical supplies in U.S. hospitals as COVID-19 cases increased, which contradicted President Trump's claims that hospitals had what they needed. Former
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority director
Rick Bright filed a whistleblower complaint alleging his transfer to NIH was retaliation for raising concerns about the dangers of scientifically unproven therapies, including sharing information about the known side effects of hydroxychloroquine, which had been promoted by President Trump in press briefings. Bright testified before a Senate committee that HHS officials denied and ignored his January warnings about a shortage in the domestic supply of respirator masks. Bright said he was told that if such a shortage happened, the government would simply change CDC guidelines to tell some people they did not need to wear masks, to which Bright said he replied, "I can't believe you can sit there and say that with a straight face."
Scientific and medical response to Trump pandemic management In September 2020, responding to the pandemic as well as climate change and other urgent issues, the
Scientific American condemned the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic. In the almost 200 years that the journal has been in print it had never before made a political statement. They wrote: In October 2020,
The New England Journal of Medicine, published an editorial which condemned the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic saying that "they have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy." The journal wrote that the Trump administration's handling of the crisis had resulted in tens of thousands of "excess" deaths as well as "immense economic pain and an increase in social inequality" due to the fact that the virus hit disadvantaged communities the hardest. This was the first time the journal had ever supported or condemned a political candidate and only three other times in its over 200-year history had an editorial been signed by all the (34) editors. == Biden administration ==