March 19 // January 6
We'll see your list of quotes and raise you one list of links.
In case you couldn’t tell from the name of this site, we love timelines. We love timelines that track and confirm every move regarding a particular topic to help us understand how a story evolves over time. These days, we love a timeline that captures every word uttered by President Trump, particularly timelines that help illustrate how utterly ill-informed, dull, outrageous, boastful, and useless he is. Fine. Beautiful. Please don’t let us stop you.
You won’t be surprised to learn we’ve created another timeline, because reading random quotes from the President about something that is seemingly as critical to our society as coronavirus doesn't sound like the ideal way to track the scientific community. If that's your thing, God bless. But let’s make a deal. We won’t begrudge you the hours and hours of hilarity to be gained by posting and re-posting your Trump’s comments timeline if you read the one we’ve added below.
Unlike yours, which offers DJT quotes and little else, this one offers links to actual articles, mostly from scientists and leaders in health-related agencies and organizations, which are full of words, phrases, pictures and all kinds of complicated information. Before we go further, we didn't create our timeline to excuse, support or otherwise ignore any remarks President Trump has made over the past two months or so, particularly the remarks that seemed to make light of the virus and the impact it could have on this country. We didn't create it because we believe the President has been flawless in his responses to this challenge.
Quite frankly, we made it because we couldn't read the quote timeline one more time and not respond. We made it to acknowledge and support the people who are working tirelessly to make sense of this virus and find solutions. We did to honor the anonymous thousands who will never stand at a podium (and don't want to) - the ones who are doing research, testing and data discovery that will bring an end to this.
We were (and still are) confounded by people who shared the quote timeline, and defended it by saying it was helpful information. "It will help in the election. People should be reminded who they're voting for."
Well, that's a reason. Although at this point, it seems - what's the word we want - unlikely? Implausible? wait - IMPOSSIBLE that anyone is unclear as to the nature and governing "style" of President Trump.
We get it. Ours isn't nearly as much fun to read but the tradeoff is you actually may learn something, including the fact that our government has been actively involved in combatting this virus for months; along with tidbits that could keep you healthy. And bonus – anytime you come across something that you had no idea existed / took place / was a “thing” - congratulations. You’re emerging from the echo chamber you’ve lived in for a good long while now.
Please Note: The dates below correspond to the various new articles that published the information. In real time, they may be off by a day. And it will become very obvious very early on that we’re not focusing on sound bites and quotes. We’re all about actions, decisions, and practical steps that could make a difference to all of us in the longer term.
A timeline of the U.S. Government’s shared information and response to coronavirus:
January 6: Health and Human Services offered to send a CDC team to China that could assist with these public health efforts.
January 8: CDC send first alerts to clinicians to be on the look-out for patients with respiratory symptoms and a history of travel to Wuhan, China.
January 17: Public Health Screening to Begin at 3 U.S. Airports for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (“2019-nCoV”)
January 21: First Travel-related Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Detected in United States
“The patient recently returned from Wuhan, China, where an outbreak of pneumonia caused by this novel coronavirus has been ongoing since December 2019. While originally thought to be spreading from animal-to-person, there are growing indications that limited person-to-person spread is happening. It’s unclear how easily this virus is spreading between people. The patient from Washington with confirmed 2019-nCoV infection returned to the United States from Wuhan on January 15, 2020.
January 24: Second Travel-related Case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Detected in United States
“The patient returned to the U.S. from Wuhan on January 13, 2020, and called a health care provider after experiencing symptoms a few days later. The patient was admitted to a hospital, where infection control measures were taken to reduce the risk of transmission to other individuals. The patient remains hospitalized in an isolation room in stable condition and is doing well.”
January 27: The FDA outlined its approach to expediting the development and availability of critical medical products to prevent, diagnose and treat 2019-nCoV using all applicable regulatory authorities to respond to this outbreak.
January 27: Speaking to China’s Minister of Health, HHS Secretary Azar again offered to send a CDC team
January 28: HHS reiterated again its request to send a CDC team to China via the World Health Organization today. “We are urging China: More cooperation and transparency are the most important steps you can take toward a more effective response.”
January 29: CDC quarantined 195 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan last Wednesday, the first such action the agency has taken in half a century
January 30: State Department Warns Against Traveling to China Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
January 31: Health and Human Services Secretary Azar Declares Public Health Emergency for United States for 2019 Novel Coronavirus
January 31: Trump Administration Restricts Entry into U.S. from China The ban went into effect February 2.
February 3: U.S. waiting to learn if it's part of mission to assess coronavirus outbreak
The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday accused the U.S. of creating an atmosphere of fear.
The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday accused the U.S. of creating an atmosphere of fear, contending it “inappropriately overreacted”by warning Americans not to travel to China and temporarily banning foreigners who traveled to the country.
*** NOTE: This is our favorite one so far. We had no idea our government tried - three times - to be part of an international team headed to China. ***
February 3: From the Transcript for CDC Telebriefing: “As we have reported earlier, CDC has developed a real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction or RRT-PCR test that can detect 2019 Novel Coronavirus and respiratory and serum specimens from clinical specimens. On January 24, CDC publicly posted the assay protocol for this test. CDC has isolated the virus, and this week it is being sent to the NIH resource repository for use by the broad scientific community.”
Well, that's super news, isn't it? We have no idea what a Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction or RRT-PCR (in real time or not) is but good news! The people who made the statement do. We know, we know, we know. It's not nearly as fun to read as something like "One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear." It will. But it's going to be because people know what an RRT-PCR is, not because it's a miracle.
February 4: FDA Takes Significant Step in Coronavirus Response Efforts, Issues Emergency Use Authorization for the First 2019 Novel Coronavirus Diagnostic
Critical Milestone Reached in Response to this Outbreak
So there it is. Well, the first month or so. And we’ve been picking and choosing from among many more.
But for now, we’re exhausted. More to come.
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Here it is, the original "timeline" that started it all:
If you’re a person living in the western hemisphere who participates in any form of social media, it’s very likely you’ve read the "quote" timeline, gleefully posted on any number of facebook timelines or comments, as tweets or on other fun-filled sites. Below is a reminder for anyone emerging from a coma who may have missed it, the greatest hits of Donald J. Trump and the corona virus. Read it if you need a refresher but honestly, we've seen this so often we have it memorized.
A timeline Trump's coronavirus COVID 19 comments:
“I know more about viruses than anyone.”
January 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
February 2: “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 25: “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus.”
February 25: “I think that's a problem that’s going to go away… They have studied it. They know very much. In fact, we’re very close to a vaccine.”
February 26: “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
February 26: “We're going very substantially down, not up.”
February 27: “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
February 28: “We're ordering a lot of supplies. We're ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn't be ordering unless it was something like this. But we're ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
February 28: During a campaign rally in South Carolina, President Donald Trump likened the Democrats' criticism of his administration's response to the new coronavirus outbreak to their efforts to impeach him, saying "this is their new hoax." During the speech he also seemed to downplay the severity of the outbreak, comparing it to the common flu.
March 2: “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don't think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
March 2: “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4: “If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5: “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”
March 5: “The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6: “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
March 6: “Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful…. the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”
March 6: “I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it… Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”
March 6: “I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault.”
March 8: “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus.”
March 9: “This blindsided the world.”
March 13, 12:30PM Currently holding a press conference to declare a national emergency.