The President vs. the Experts: How Trump Played Down the Coronavirus

Jan. 22

In late January, President Trump expressed optimism. “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine,” he said on CNBC.

Jan. 30

Just a week later, the director-general of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared a public health emergency: “The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China, but because of what is happening in other countries.”

Feb. 2

With fewer than a dozen cases reported, Mr. Trump said in an appearance with Sean Hannity that the United States had stopped the virus’s spread by restricting travel. “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China,” he said.

Feb. 7

Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, however, said the travel restrictions “were very measured and incremental.” They did not apply to American citizens, permanent residents or their immediate family.

Feb. 12

And the executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense, Asha M. George, said travel restrictions came too late. “Travel restrictions are not going to remain the sole way to try and control all of this.”

Feb. 13

By mid-February, few U.S. cases had been confirmed but public health officials were predicting a lengthy outbreak. “This virus is probably with us beyond this season, beyond this year,” Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on CNN.

Feb. 14

But Mr. Trump told the National Border Patrol Council not to worry. “There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm — historically, that has been able to kill the virus.” (W.H.O. later said, “We have no reason to believe that this virus would behave differently in different temperatures.”)

Feb. 26

Even as the number of cases rose to 60, Mr. Trump said at a news conference that infections were declining. “We’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.” He continued, “As they get better, we take them off the list, so that we’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time.”

Mr. Azar, at the same news conference as Mr. Trump, said clearly, “We can expect to see more cases in the United States.”

And Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the C.D.C., said the same. “We do expect more cases, and this is a good time to prepare.”

That same day, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the C.D.C’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said the virus would continue to spread. “It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness,” she said.

Feb. 27

At the White House the next day, Mr. Trump offered a mixed message on the outbreak’s trajectory. “It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear. And from our shores, we — you know, it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows.”

Feb. 28

At a rally in South Carolina, Mr. Trump said that Democrats had been “politicizing” his response to the coronavirus, just as he said they had the Russia investigation and the impeachment inquiry. “They tried anything, they tried it over and over,” he said. “And this is their new hoax.” Later, he accused the news media of being in “hysteria mode” over the coronavirus, which he suggested was unwarranted.

March 2

When U.S. cases surpassed 100, Mr. Trump assured attendees at a rally in Charlotte, N.C., that a vaccine was on the way. “We had a great meeting today with a lot of the great companies, and they’re going to have vaccines, I think, relatively soon,” he said.

But earlier that day, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said a vaccine would take time. “You won’t have a vaccine,” he said, noting that a vaccine would need to be tested first. It would take, he said, “a year to a year and a half.”

March 3

Public health experts expressed concerns about the deadliness of the virus. The W.H.O.’s Dr. Ghebreyesus said of the fatality rate, “Globally, about 3.4 percent of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1 percent of those infected.”

March 4

Mr. Trump told Mr. Hannity that he had a hunch the fatality rate was lower. “Well, I think the 3.4 percent is really a false number. Now, and this is just my hunch, and, but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot people will have this and it’s very mild.” He continued, “I think the number, personally, I would say the number is way under 1 percent.”

March 5

Hundreds of new cases began to be announced daily even as Vice President Mike Pence offered a blunt assessment of testing capacity. “We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward,” he said.

March 6

But the next day, Mr. Trump insisted, “Anybody that needs a test can have a test.”

Mr. Azar was forced to clarify: “You may not get a test unless a doctor or public health official prescribes a test.”

March 7

With nearly every state reporting at least one case, a reporter asked Mr. Trump whether he was concerned that the virus was getting closer to the White House. Mr. Trump replied, “No, I’m not concerned at all. No, I’m not. No, we’ve done a great job.”

March 10

Mr. Trump suggested that his signature policy proposal, a border wall with Mexico, required renewed urgency in the face of the outbreak. “Going up fast. We need the Wall more than ever!” he tweeted.

At a congressional hearing that day, Dr. Redfield was asked whether structural barriers at U.S. borders would mitigate the outbreak. “Not that I’ve seen,” he replied.

March 11

The W.H.O. declared that the coronavirus had become a pandemic. “W.H.O. has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” Dr. Ghebreyesus said.

March 12

Testing availability remained a concern for Dr. Fauci, who told Congress, “The system is not really geared to what we need right now, what you are asking for. That is a failing. It is a failing. Let’s admit it.”

March 13

Mr. Trump suggested at a news conference that Google would handle some of the burden of making tests available. “I want to thank Google. Google is helping to develop a website. It’s going to be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past, to determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location.”

Google pointed to a statement from Verily, with which it shares a parent company, saying a tool to triage coronavirus cases was in the early stages of development. Google C.E.O. Sundar Pichai later said its own plans were limited to creating an informational website “dedicated to COVID-19 education, prevention and local resources nationwide.”

March 15

On Sunday, as the U.S. passed 3,000 cases, Mr. Trump said the situation was under control. “This is a very contagious virus. It’s incredible. But it’s something we have tremendous control of.”

Dr. Fauci, at the same news conference, offered the opposite assessment. “The worst is, yes, ahead for us. It is how we respond to that challenge that’s going to determine what the ultimate endpoint is going to be.”

March 17

By Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s message had shifted completely from January. “I’ve always known this is a real — this is a pandemic,” he said. “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”