Earlier Response Could Have Saved Thousands of U.S. Lives

As revealed yesterday via audio recordings from investigative journalist Bob Woodward, President Trump knew about the true severity of Covid-19 as early as February 6 - in direct contradiction to his public stance and initial action on the public health crisis. As the interview with the president on February 7 shows, Mr Trump had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping the day before and concluded that the virus is “more deadly than even your strenuous flus”, adding: “This is five percent versus one percent and less than one percent...this is deadly stuff”.

Despite this, in a later March 19 interview, Trump told Woodward that he “wanted to always play it down, I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic”.

While the plan may have been effective in reducing initial panic and fear in the population, research by Columbia University published in May also revealed that by reacting with measures enforcing social distancing and restricting individual contact one week earlier than it did, the U.S. government could have averted an estimated 35 thousand deaths. Mid-range estimates indicate that the same reaction two weeks earlier could have saved the lives of 58 thousand Americans.

Reacting to the information, Joe Biden condemned the actions of the president, saying that it amounted to a “dereliction of duty” and is “beyond despicable”.

Defending his decisions, Trump said in a press conference: “I don't want people to be frightened. I don't want to create panic”, adding: “We want to show confidence, we want to show strength...as a nation”, before citing the “amazing job” his government has done during the pandemic.