Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Day by day: What Trump said about the pandemic (March 21-31, 2020)


Dictionary definition from Merriam-Webster

March 31, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  199,408 (+26,926), which is 0.49% of current total. 

March 31, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 30,416,600


Rev, 3/31/2020
We also are holding back quite a bit. We have almost 10,000 ventilators that we have ready to go. We have to hold them back because the surge is coming, and it’s coming pretty strong, and we want to be able to immediately move it into place without going and taking it.

 

What we learn the next day.

New York Times, 4/1/2020

And a few months later.

Fierce Biotech, 7/31/2020


March 31, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 5,231 (+1,103), which is 0.6% of current total.

March 31, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 550,500

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Welcoming a gullible public to the shit show in his mind.

Dictionary defniition by Merriam-Webster

March 30, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  173,482 (+23,928), which is 0.49% of current total. 

March 30, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 30,355,300


Rev, 3/30/2020
First of all, the numbers have been incredible on testing, but in the days ahead we’re going to go even faster and we have something from Abbott Labs which is right here and that’s a five minute test, highly accurate.  [emphasis added]

Two weeks later

New York Times, 4/15/2020

Five months later

Pierce Bioteach, 8/27/2020

March 30, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 4,128 (+839), which is 0.6% of current total.

March 30, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 549,552

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March 29, 2021 update starts here

Dictionary defintion from Merriam-Webster

March 29, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  149,554 (+20,352), which is 0.49% of current total. 

March 29, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 30,285,400


Rev. 3/29/2020
So you’re talking about 2.2 million deaths. 2.2 million people from this. If we can hold that down as we’re saying, to 100,000, it’s a horrible number. Maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job. 2.2, up to 2.2 million deaths and maybe even beyond that? I’m feeling very good about what we did last week.  
[snip] 
That was an aspirational number. I didn’t say “Easter.” I said, “It would be a great thing if we could do it by Easter,” and we know much more now than we knew two, three weeks ago. Easter should be the peak number and it should start coming down and hopefully very substantially from that point.

As it turned out, the peak number of deaths did not occur on Easter, April 12, 2020.  In fact, the highest daily total -- 4,524 -- occurred in the final days of the Trump administration, on January 12, 2021. 

Worldometer (arrow added)


March 29, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 3,289 (+502), which is 0.6% of current total.

March 29, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 548,867

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(arrows added; longer arrow indicates extent of "tremendous
control" exerted by Trump administration over the virus)

March 28, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  129,200 (+19,516), which is 0.43% of current total. 

March 28, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 30,239,600



Washington Post, 3/28/2020
Asked what more he wants from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), in particular, Trump said he just wants more gratitude. “All I want them to do — very simple: I want them to be appreciative,” he said. “I don’t want them to say things that aren’t true. I want them to be appreciative.”


March 28, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 2,787 (+652), which is 0.51% of current total.

March 28, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 548,377

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March 27, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  109,684 (+19,236), which is 0.36% of current total. 

March 27, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 30,179,500



Rev, 3/27/2020
They’ve really appreciated, I think, what the federal government has done, you look at the hospitals that are being built all over the country by the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA. It’s been really incredible. Nobody has seen it. They’ll build hospitals in two or three days, portable hospitals. This afternoon I invoked the Defense Production Act to compel General Motors to accept, perform, prioritize federal contracts for ventilators. Ventilators are a big deal and we’ve delivered thousands of them, and oftentimes you don’t need ventilators very much, hospitals don’t have very many, and now we’re turning out that we have to produce large numbers, but we’ve been able to do that and we’re going to be doing a lot more.  [bold added]
The next day
Forbes, 3/28/2020

A month and a half later

NPR, 5/7/2020
As hospitals were overrun by coronavirus patients in other parts of the world, the Army Corps of Engineers mobilized in the U.S., hiring private contractors to build emergency field hospitals around the country. 
The endeavor cost more than $660 million, according to an NPR analysis of federal spending records. 
But nearly four months into the pandemic, most of these facilities haven't treated a single patient. [emphasis added]

 

March 27, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 2,135 (+503), which is 0.39% of current total.

March 27, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 547,600

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March 26, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  90,448 (+18,085), which is 0.3% of current total. 

March 26, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 30,103,800


Dictionary definition from Merriam-Webster
Washington Post, 3/26/2020

A sampler:
“It’s been incredible how we’ve done.” 
“We’ve done one hell of a job; nobody’s done the job that we’ve done.” 
“It’s hard not to be happy with the job we’re doing; that I can tell you.” 
“We’ve come a long way from an obsolete, broken system that I inherited.” 
“We’re the ones that gave the great response, and we’re the ones that kept China out of here, and if I didn’t do it, you’d have thousands and thousands of people died — who would have died that are now living and happy.”
Since the day Trump uttered this self-serving nonsense, the U.S. has tallied an additional 544,708 Covid deaths.

March 26, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 1.632 (+360), which is 0.3% of current total.

March 26, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 546,340

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March 25, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  72,363 (+13,692), which is 0.24% of current total. 

March 25, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 30,033,800


Dictionary dictionary from Merriam-Webster (boxes added)


ABC News, 3/25/2020
Trump resorted to calling a rporter “fake news” when asked about his goal of “reopening” the country by Easter, which health experts and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have criticized as too early. 
“The media would like to see me do poorly in the election,” Trump said, repeating unsubstantiated claims he has made on Twitter in the face of backlash to his mid-April goal. 
“Just so you understand, I think there are certain people who would like it to not open so quickly, I think there are certain people who would like it to do financially poorly because they think that would be very good as far as defeating me at the polls,” Trump said, despite offering no supporting evidence. “ 
I don't know if that is so, but there are people in your profession that would like that to happen, I think it's very clear. That there are people in your profession who write fake news, you do, she does, there are people in your profession that write fake news,” Trump said, pointing at another reporter.


March 25, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 1.272 (+308), which is 0.23% of current total.

March 25, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 545,070

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March 24, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  58,671 (+11,746), which is 0.2% of current total. 

March 24, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 29,957,300


Dictionary defintion by Oxford Dictionary

CNN, 3/24/2020
President Trump said he wants the nation "opened up and just raring to go by Easter," a date just over two weeks away that few health experts believe will be sufficient in containing the spread of coronavirus. 
Speaking during a Fox News town hall, Trump reiterated he was eager to see the nation return to normal, even as doctors warn the nation will see a massive spike in cases if Americans return to crowded workplaces or events. 
"I give it two weeks," Trump said earlier in the town hall,suggesting he was ready to phase out his 15-day self-isolating guidelines when they expire. "I guess by Monday or Tuesday, it's about two weeks. We will assess at that time and give it more time if we need a little more time. We have to open this country up."

Number of Covid cases in U.S. on March 24, 2020:  58,671

Number 1of Covid cases in U.S. on April 12, 2020:  580,323.  A nearly tenfold increase

Number of Covid deaths in the U.S. on March 24, 2020:  964.

Number of Covid deaths in the U.S. on April 12, 2020:  26,299.  An increase of 2600%

Dear news media, there is no possibility of rehabilitation or redemption here. 

But wait, there's more!

Trump again compared coronavirus to the flu and auto accidents, despite warnings from his health advisers that such analogies make little sense.

In hindsight, it's nonsense.

Covid deaths as of 2/16/2021 compared with flu deaths 2011-2020.  The flu deaths add up to 357,000 over 10 years.


Motor vehicle deaths in U.S. by year.  Again, not even close.


March 24, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 964 (+271), which is 0.095% of current total.

March 24, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 543,479

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March 23, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  46,925 (+10,875), which is 0.16% of current total. 

March 23, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 29,898,600



Dictionary definition from Merriam-Webster (highlight added)

New York Times, 3/23/2020
WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” Mr. Trump tweeted in all capital letters shortly before midnight. “AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”

During the Trump Administration's inept "15 Days to Slow the Spread campaign (March 15-29), a period when Americans were instructed to avoid groups of more than 10 poeple, the daily number of new cases increased from 3,830 to 149,554 -- 3800% increase. 


March 23, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 693 (+180), which is 0.095% of current total.

March 23, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 542,567

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March 22, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  36,050 (+9,752), which is 0.13% of current total. 

March 22, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 29,842,900


Dictionary definition by Merriam-Webster

"Google is helping to develop a website," Trump said. "It's going to be very quickly done — unlike websites of the past — to determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location." 
Within hours, Google attempted to clarify the president's comments. It said an affiliated company, Verily, was working on the project but on a limited scale only for people in the San Francisco area. 
"Verily is in the early stages of development," Google said, "and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time."



A year later, Project Baseline by Verily offers testing in the West and Northeast U.S.


Not so clustered when you zero in.  (Rural areas of NY and PA.)


March 22, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 513 (+137), which is 0.095% of current total.

March 22, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 541,937

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March 21, 2020.   U.S. total Covid cases =  26,298 (+5,152), which is 0.088% of current total. 

March 21, 2021.  U.S. total Covid cases = 29,808,700


Dictionary definition from Merriam-Webster

CNBC, 3/21/2020
“I don’t know. I mean, I just don’t know what the government assistance would be for what I have,” Trump said at a White House briefing. “I have hotels. Everybody knew I had hotels when I got elected. They knew I was a successful person when I got elected so it’s one of those things.”
"One of those bells that now and then rings."

Of course, they did.  And so did Jared's.

The Hill, 12/2/2020

March 21, 2020.   U.S. total Covid deaths = 376 (+66), which is 0.069% of current total.

March 21, 2021.  U.S. total Covid deaths = 541,493


Related series of posts:
Day by day:  What Trump said about the pandemic.  March 11-20, 2020
March 1-10, 2020.
February 2020.

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