Day by day: What the Trump administration/GOP said about the pandemic (February 2020)

 

New York Times (arrows added)

February 28, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases = 63, which is 0.00002% of current total. 

February 28 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 28,604,000

Dictionary entry found at Merriam-Webster (highlight added)

February 28, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 0

February 28, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 512,829

Washington Post, 4/20/2020

“One of my people came up to me and said, 'Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.' That didn't work out too well. They couldn't do it,” he added a bit later. “They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. ... And this is their new hoax.” 

“But you know we did something that’s been pretty amazing,” he continued. “We have 15 people in this massive country, and because of the fact that we went early, we went early, we could have had a lot more than that. 

“We're doing great,” he added. “Our country is doing so great.”

February 27, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases = 60, which is 0.00002% of current total. 

February 27, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 28,509,300

Dictionary entry found at Merriam-Webster

Washington Post, 4/20/2020

“We have done an incredible job. We’re going to continue,” he said. “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.”

February 26, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases = 60, which is 0.00002% of current total. 

February 26, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 28,431,000

Dictionary entry found at Merriam-Webster

Washington Post, 4/20/2020

The president also offered one of the defining lines of his administration’s handling of the outbreak. 

“When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done.”

Defining, indeed!

February 25, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases = 57.

February 25, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 28,353,200

The Hill, 2/25/2020

February 24, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases = 53.

February 24, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 28,279,100

Reuters, 2/24/2020

“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA,” Trump, who is visiting India, said on Twitter. “We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”  [emphasis added]

February 21, 2020 (as reported by Politico)

February 19, 2020

“I’m confident that they’re trying very hard,” Trump replied. “I mean, I know President Xi — I get along with him very well. We’ve just made a great trade deal, which is going to be a lot of business for Arizona and every other place. But, they are trying very, very hard, and I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along.”  (Washington Post, 4/20/2020)

The number of new U.S. Covid cases reported in 1 day peaked on January 8, 2021 -- 324 days after Trump made this numbskull pronouncement.