#15 Table 30 Pandemic Edition
Don’t worry, we’re okay here at Table 30. Over the week I’ve had multiple friends and family call and check on me and I can report that right now I’m okay. Though I have the misfortune of living in one of the areas of the country hardest hit by this new coronavirus, I am not symptomatic and neither is any of my family.
Of course that does not mean we don’t have it. If we lived in a country like South Korea or China or Japan, we would know if we had it. In South Korea they are testing 10,000 people a day. Here we haven’t even tested 10,000 people total in our nation of over 300,000,000. It is difficult to overstate the level at which the federal government in general and the Trump administration in particular absolutely botched their response to this global pandemic.
It is possible to lie about money or trade deals or laws or court cases or any number of other things that Donald Trump lies about on a daily basis without a lot of pushback because while we still know he’s lying, he’s lying about human constructs. None of these things exist outside our collective imaginations. And while they still have real consequences, because they are imaginary, lying about them is easier.
A virus doesn’t care about lies. Donald Trump and the rest of his administration cannot lie their way out of being infected. They cannot pay off the virus to keep quiet. They cannot con the virus into leaving them alone. A virus doesn’t care how much money you have or how much power you think you have.
The problem with lying about a virus is that no matter what lie you tell, the virus is still going to kill people. Things are happening very fast now. So it’s important to take a look at the timeline.
Spring 2018
Donald Trump eliminates the White House pandemic group put together by Barack Obama in the wake of the 2009 Ebola outbreak. This group was dedicated to identifying and responding to potential outbreaks of disease. John Bolton and Donald Trump eliminated the group and fired or reassigned everyone in it.
December 31, 2019
Chinese officials in Wuhan confirm dozens of cases of pneumonia from an unknown cause.
January 7, 2020
The outbreak is identified as a new coronavirus.
January 11, 2020
China reports its first known death from an illness caused by the coronavirus. The patient is a 61-year-old man in Wuhan.
January 20, 2020
A World Health Organization situation report details the first confirmed cases outside China in Thailand, Japan and South Korea.
January 21, 2020
The United States announces its first confirmed coronavirus case — a man in his 30s in Washington state.
January 22, 2020
Trump says “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.”
January 23, 2020
China places Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, under quarantine orders. All flights and trains departing from the city are canceled, and buses, subways and ferries within the city are suspended.
January 24, 2020
Death toll in China rises to 26, more than 830 reported cases. 13 cities now under lockdown in Hubei, affecting 41 million people.
January 26, 2020
Death toll rises to 56, almost 2,000 cases confirmed. The third case is confirmed in the US.
January 27, 2020
The death toll in China rises to 106, more than 4,500 people in China reported being infected.
January 30, 2020
World Health Organization declares the outbreak a global public health emergency as more than 9,000 cases were reported worldwide, including in 18 countries beyond China.
January 31, 2020
The White House announces that it will ban entry for most foreign nationals who have traveled to China within the last 14 days. (A full month after the first cases were reported.)
February 1, 2020
The death toll in China rises to 259, with nearly 12,000 confirmed cases in the country.
Princess Cruises confirms that a passenger who sailed aboard the Diamond Princess from Yokohama, Japan, on Jan. 20 and disembarked in Hong Kong on Jan 25 had tested positive for the virus.
February 2, 2020
The first coronavirus death is reported outside China — a 44-year-old Wuhan resident who died in the Philippines.
Trump says “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 4, 2020
The Diamond Princess cruise ship is quarantined in Yokohama with about 3,700 people, including passengers and crew, onboard.
February 5, 2020
The global death toll rises to 565, with 28,275 confirmed cases.
February 7, 2020
Dr Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor who issued a warning about the coronavirus outbreak before it was officially recognized, dies in Wuhan. Li became a hero in China and his death sparked a wave of public mourning.
February 8, 2020
The first U.S. citizen dies from coronavirus in Wuhan.
February 9, 2020
The death toll in mainland China rises to 811, surpassing the number of fatalities from the SARS outbreak in 2003.
February 10, 2020
The US reports a new case in California. Increasing the total cases in the country to 13.
The number of confirmed cases on the Diamond Princess cruise reaches 135.
February 11, 2020
WHO announces that the disease caused by the new coronavirus will be known by the official name of COVID-19.
February 12, 2020
The number of people infected onboard the Diamond Princess ship rises to 175.
February 13, 2020
The death toll in mainland China hits 1,300, with nearly 60,000 infections recorded.
February 14, 2020
Egypt confirms its first coronavirus case, becoming the first country in Africa to be affected by the outbreak. The global death toll passes 1,500, including three outside mainland China.
The first coronavirus death is recorded outside Asia. The patient is an 80-year-old Chinese tourist who died in France.
February 18, 2020
The number of COVID-19 cases rises to 73,439 and is affecting 29 countries/territories and one cruise ship.
February 19, 2020
Iran reports two coronavirus cases. Hours later, officials confirms that both patients died.
February 20, 2020
South Korea reports its first coronavirus death, as the country’s number of confirmed cases rises to 104. It is the ninth confirmed death from the virus outside mainland China.
February 24, 2020
Italy becomes the worst-hit country in Europe as cases spike. Health officials announce the sixth death from the virus.
Trump says “The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA… Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
The U.S. stock market plummets over coronavirus fears, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average experiences the worst day in two years.
February 25, 2020
Trump says “CDC and my Administration are doing a GREAT job of handling coronavirus.”
Trump says “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, 2020
The global death toll from COVID-19 reaches nearly 2,800 with a more than 81,000 confirmed cases.
Trump says “The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
California announces the first case in the U.S. with no clear source of exposure.
Trump says “We’re going very substantially down, not up.”
Brazil confirms its first coronavirus case, the first in Latin America.
February 27, 2020
Trump says “One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
South Korea reports 171 new cases of COVID-19, raising the total to 1,766. One new death is been reported in the country, bringing the death toll in South Korea to 13.
February 28, 2020
Trump says “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.”
Iran reports 34 deaths out of 388 confirmed coronavirus cases, making it the country with the highest number of deaths from the virus outside China.
February 29, 2020
President Donald Trump announces additional travel restrictions involving Iran and increased warnings about travel to Italy and South Korea.
The first recorded coronavirus death in the U.S., a man in his 50s in Washington state.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee declares a State of Emergency due to Coronavirus cases
March 1, 2020
The US reports a second death in King County, Washington. The man was in his 70s
March 2, 2020
Trump says “You take a solid flu vaccine, you don’t think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”
Schools in Colville, Washington are closed while a person is investigated for the COVID-19.
Trump says “A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 3, 2019
Washington State has 27 confirmed cases.
March 4, 2020
Trump says “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, 2020
Trump says “I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”
Trump says “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, 2020
Trump signs an $8.3 billion emergency spending package to combat the coronavirus outbreak, as the number of global cases hit 100,000.
Trump says “I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
Trump says “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.”
Austin, Texas, cancels the SXSW conference and festivals amid the coronavirus concerns, following the cancellation of other high-profile events across the country.
Trump says “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.”
Vice President Mike Pence announces that 21 people aboard the Grand Princess, a cruise ship being held off the coast of California, tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trump says “I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault.”
March 8, 2020
Italy issues a lockdown to quarantine around 16 million people in the country’s northern Lombardy region, as confirmed cases surpassed 5,800 and more than 230 people died from the virus. The area sealed off includes Milan and Venice.
Trump says “We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on coronavirus.”
Confirmed cases in the U.S. topped 500.
March 9, 2020
Ireland cancels St. Patrick’s Day festivities over coronavirus concerns.
Trump says “This blindsided the world.”
March 11, 2020
The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. WHO says there are 118,000 reported cases, more than 4,000 deaths, and the virus has found a foothold on every continent except for Antarctica.
Trump reads a speech from the Oval Office declaring travel bans from Europe excluding the UK where there are over 500 cases.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee bans gatherings of more than 250 people in three counties hardest hit by the virus.
March 13, 2020
Trump claims no knowledge of him or John Bolton eliminating the White House pandemic response team. He then lies and says that Google has 1,700 engineers working to create a nationwide website that would direct Americans to testing sites nationwide.
Right now, Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NHL have all cancelled or postponed their seasons. Here in Tacoma, the schools are closed, a local movie theater has closed, all libraries have closed, and most churches are not having services.
I’m not sure if it’s possible to look at this and not see the absolute malevolent incompetence of the Trump administration. There are people dead and dying right now from this virus because of Trump’s actions and inaction. An emergency of this magnitude exposes the fraud and ineptness that permeates his entire administration.
We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming next week. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the world.
- Jack
Links For More Information:
Visualization of Coronavirus Information
Italy Overwhelmed: This is worth looking at because we have similar healthcare systems and similar per capita hospital capacity.
No, You Don’t Need A Mask
How Should We Respond To The Coronavirus? A conversation between Sam Harris and Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, where he directs the Human Nature Lab and is the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science.
Early Thoughts on a Pandemic A conversation between Sam Harris and Amesh Adalja, MD, an infectious disease specialist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security.