Public Health Experts’ Somber Tone Colliding With Trump’s Bombastic Style, Optimism Stoking Confusion All Around
President Donald Trump has repeatedly misstated the number of Americans who have tested positive for the virus and claimed it would “miraculously” disappear in the spring, given a false timeline for the development of a vaccine, publicly questioned whether vaccinations for the flu could be used to treat the novel coronavirus and dismissed WHO’s death rate estimates. In a time when public faith in the government is critical to fighting panic and hysteria, experts worry the mixed messaging is doing anything but.
The Washington Post:
Trump May Be Greatest Obstacle To Sending A Clear Message On Coronavirus
As leading public health experts from across the government have tried to provide clear and consistent information about the deadly coronavirus, they have found their messages undercut, drowned out and muddled by President Trump’s push to downplay the outbreak with a mix of optimism, bombast and pseudoscience. Speaking almost daily to the public about an outbreak that has spread across states and rocked the markets, Trump has promoted his opinions and at times contradicted the public health experts tasked with keeping Americans safe. (Olorunnipa, 3/5)
Politico:
A Presidency Of Two For Coronavirus: Trump Hands His Sidekick The Job Of A Savior
Donald Trump is finally securing the presidency he’s always wanted: He rallies the people. Mike Pence governs them. As Trump prepares to decamp to his oceanfront club in West Palm Beach this weekend, surrounded by GOP donors and top aides, the vice president will travel to Florida for a Saturday meeting with cruise ship operators about the rapidly evolving coronavirus crisis. The striking split-screen view that has played out this week and will continue in Florida — of a president dispensing questionable theories about the virus and prioritizing his 2020 campaign, while his hyper-focused deputy tackles a life-or-death problem of governance — has put a longstanding Trump practice in its starkest relief yet. (Orr and Kumar, 3/6)
Politico:
5 Ways The Global Coronavirus Is Entangling The Nationalist Trump
President Donald Trump is stuck — caught between his nationalistic impulses and a globalist disease. The Trump playbook has long been to hammer an “America First” agenda, glossing over international cooperative organizations and focusing on internal safety. But that approach doesn’t map well onto the coronavirus, a disease that can hop borders with just a droplet on a plane. And it’s posing unusual challenges to Trump’s way of doing business with the world. (Heath and Okun, 3/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump’s Message On Virus Draws Scrutiny
President Trump is trying to ease anxieties about coronavirus. Public-health experts say he may be sowing confusion in the process. Mr. Trump drew fresh scrutiny after an interview on Fox News Wednesday in which he questioned the death rate associated with the virus and the severity of its impact on the public. “A lot of people will have this, and it’s very mild,” Mr. Trump said to host Sean Hannity. “They will get better very rapidly. They don’t even see a doctor. They don’t even call a doctor.” (Lucey, 3/5)
The New York Times Fact Checker:
Fact-Checking President Trump's Claims On The Coronavirus
President Trump has made a series of rosy — and sometimes false — claims about the coronavirus, including the risks to Americans and how his administration is responding. Here is a timeline of some of his comments, placed in context and fact-checked. (Qiu and Bouchard, 3/5)
The Associated Press Fact Check:
Trump's Mislaid Blame On Obama For Virus Test
President Donald Trump and his officials are falsely asserting that they’ve accelerated coronavirus testing by easing a restrictive policy introduced by the Obama administration. Trump also appeared to suggest that people with the infectious disease should go to work as long as they feel OK, advice that defies the warnings of his health officials that such people shouldn't leave their homes unless they need care. (3/5)
The Washington Post Fact Check:
Trump’s Bogus Effort To Blame Obama For Sluggish Coronavirus Testing
The administration has been under fire for its failure to quickly expand testing for coronavirus across the United States; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had distributed flawed tests to state and local health departments. The lack of tests, compared with countries like South Korea that have tested tens of thousands of people, has meant the possible spread of the virus in the United States may be hidden. Trump suggested the problem instead was an “Obama rule” on testing that his administration had recently overturned. But this turns out to be completely wrong. Let’s explore. (Kessler, 3/6)
The New York Times:
In Rarity, A Top Coronavirus Official Is An Obama Appointee Working For Trump
In the spring of 1983, even before the virus that causes AIDS had a name, a young Army doctor named Deborah L. Birx suffered excessive bleeding while giving birth. Moments before she passed out from pain, she screamed an order at her husband: “Do not let them give me blood!” She may have saved her own life. The blood she would have received was later discovered to be contaminated with H.I.V. “That was Debbie’s first brush with AIDS, and it literally changed her,” John Kerry, then the secretary of state, said in 2014, after President Barack Obama put Dr. Birx in charge of addressing the global AIDS epidemic. “It made her think hard not just about the perils of this new disease, but about her responsibility to fight it.” (Stolberg, 3/6)
Politico:
White House Sidelines Azar From Coronavirus Response
There will be a notable omission when Vice President Mike Pence visits Washington state Thursday as part of the Trump administration's coronavirus response: health Secretary Alex Azar. The White House on Wednesday also benched Azar from a coronavirus task force press briefing, the latest sign of diminished standing for an official who was the face of the U.S. response to the disease just a week ago. (Diamond, Owermohle and McGraw, 3/5)
NPR:
Public Trust Is Critical In Health Crises. Does Trump Administration Have It?
During infectious disease outbreaks, public trust in the government and health agencies becomes critical. Officials need to convince millions of people that they are telling the whole truth, and that their guidance on what to do — and not do — should be followed. How's that going as coronavirus has begun spreading in some parts of the U.S.? (Simmons-Duffin, 3/5)
The Hill:
Pence, Inslee Greet Each Other With Elbow Bump Ahead Of Coronavirus Meetings
Vice President Pence on Thursday greeted Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and other local officials with elbow bumps in lieu of handshakes as he traveled to the state to discuss its coronavirus response. The vice president stepped off Air Force Two in Tacoma, where he bumped elbows with Inslee and several members of Congress who were there to greet him. (Samuels, 3/5)
