'Trump clearly has no plan. Closing the borders and restricting travel doesn’t matter, because experts think that the coronavirus had been in the United States for weeks before the first case was detected.'
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Trump Embarrasses Himself In Clueless Coronavirus Briefing, March 9, 2020
'Local officials in some hard-hit areas are meanwhile warning that failures in the federal response are making the situation worse.
The mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan, said that a lack of testing kits earlier in the pandemic that continues to this day was preventing patients getting the treatment they needed and officials from understanding the community spread of the disease..''But the biggest problem facing the US is not more cases of coronavirus coming from Europe -- it is that the disease has taken root on US soil itself by community spread.
Pressing issues now revolve around how Americans should respond to the situation and to what extent they should change their daily patterns. Trump did advise halting nonessential visits to care homes for the elderly -- the highest risk group from the virus.
But he didn't explain how he would alleviate what health officials fear will be a crowding of hospitals, the continuing lack of proper testing or the coming strain on resources such as breathing machines needed to keep the sickest patients alive.
He argued that the threat was still "very low" for all but the old and infirm, on a day when one of his top public health officials, Dr. Anthony Fauci, predicted the current scenario -- with more than 1,200 people sick in the US and 38 dead, is "going to get worse."
Local officials in some hard-hit areas are meanwhile warning that failures in the federal response are making the situation worse.
The mayor of Seattle, Jenny Durkan, said that a lack of testing kits earlier in the pandemic that continues to this day was preventing patients getting the treatment they needed and officials from understanding the community spread of the disease. She told CNN's Don Lemon that stringent measures to restrict public gatherings and close schools were therefore vital to saving lives.
"By doing some modeling and looking at the tests, (scientists) calculate that if we didn't take the kind of actions that the governor and I and the executives announced today, that by April 7th, we would have over 25,000 cases in the city of Seattle in this region. And 400 deaths," Durkan said.
..
The President did not mention, for example, the shortage of testing kits, which means officials cannot even get a strong read on how far the disease has spread across the nation.
Presidents use Oval Office addresses in moments of extremis, to bind Americans together to confront a challenge that threatens their collective security.'
- CNN,
Trump address sparks chaos as coronavirus crisis deepens, March 12, 2020
Context(BBC) - Coronavirus: Trump suspends travel from Europe to US - '..classified [meetings] .. hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion..'Trump's coronavirus response is worse than incompetent - '..Trump .. he [is] obviously incapable of handling the problem..'(China, Europe, US mismanagement) - Coronavirus: Wuhan doctor speaks out against authorities(BBC) Coronavirus confirmed as pandemic by World Health Organization - 'He said he was "deeply concerned" by "alarming levels of inaction" over the virus.' - 'The case of the Netherlands..'