Politicians’ refusal to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously has put millions of Americans at risk
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters following a meeting of the coronavirus task force in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
In times of crisis, we want and expect our elected officials to take command of the situation and lead us to safety. But often, lawmakers in fact do the exact opposite, failing to take critical actions swiftly or downplaying the scope of an emergency to score partisan political points. The novel coronavirus pandemic has been no exception.
With more than 418,000 cases and upwards of 14,000 deaths, the United States has become the hardest-hit country among those with reliable statistics (and even then we know we are massively undercounting deaths and the extent of the disease). President Trump was stunningly slow to respond to the pandemic, leaving the federal government ill-prepared to curb the spread of Covid-19. Many state leaders have stepped up to fill the gaps — but some have refused to take the crisis as seriously as their constituents need them to.
We compiled a list of seven lawmakers whose inaction around the coronavirus has put millions of Americans at risk. From ignoring public health experts to encouraging senior citizens to sacrifice themselves for the economy, here is a list of some of the worst responses to the pandemic so far.
U.S. intelligence agencies warned President Trump of the dangers of the novel coronavirus as early as January, but it took 70 days before he started to treat the pandemic as a serious crisis. Though he declared a public health emergency on January 31, Trump spent February downplaying concerns about the virus, often saying it would just disappear. On March 9, he said the seasonal flu was worse, and the next day, he promised that the coronavirus would just “go away.” It was not until April that Trump switched his tune in the face of the now-runaway epidemic and predicted that between 100,000 and 240,00 Americans would die.
All the while, behind closed doors, Trump refused to take action for two critical months. The White House battled public health agencies over funding, did little to handle the shortage of personal protective equipment for health care workers, and relied on flawed coronavirus tests despite scientists’ warnings.
Ron DeSantis allowed spring breakers to run wild for weeks and refused to shut down Florida’s beaches, despite concerns that they could become super-spreaders as they left the Sunshine State. For weeks, the governor refused to order a statewide stay-at-home order, arguing there were areas of Florida where there was no community spread.
Instead, his most drastic measure to contain the virus was ordering a quarantine for visitors from the tristate area and Louisiana on March 24. At that point, nearly 1,500 Floridians had tested positive to the virus and 20 had died. DeSantis gave up and finally implemented a stay-at-home order on April 1. As of Wednesday, cases in Florida had increased to 15,400 positives and 236 deaths.
In late March, Trump pushed for the reopening of businesses in a matter of weeks despite public health experts warning the outbreak was far from contained. Dan Patrick, a Trump loyalist, went on TV to defend him and suggested that older Americans should risk their lives to save the economy.
“No one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’” Patrick said on March 23. “If that’s the exchange, I’m all in.”
The comments were understandably met with pushback, and even Gov. Greg Abbott distanced himself from his lieutenant.
On March 14, New York City reported its first coronavirus fatality and Trump extended his Europe travel ban to include the U.K. and Ireland. As experts encouraged people to socially distance to curb the spread of the virus, Kevin Stitt posted a defiant photo. He’s seen smiling with his two children at the Collective OKC, a food hall in Oklahoma City. “It’s packed tonight!” he enthusiastically wrote.
The tweet blew up, and Stitt deleted it in the face of the criticism. Even though he declared a state of emergency the next day, a spokesperson said, “The governor will continue to take his family out to dinner and to the grocery store without living in fear, and encourages Oklahomans to do the same.” It took two more weeks before Stitt issued a statewide stay-at-home order. “The best way to slow the curve and stop the spread of Covid-19 is through aggressive testing and tracing, as well as continuing to practice social distancing,” he said on April 1.
Health experts warned as early as January that asymptomatic people can spread the coronavirus. But it wasn’t until early April that Brian Kemp allegedly learned this was a possibility. He cited the newly found knowledge as the reason why he was ordering all Georgians to stay at home. At the same time, he has ordered the reopening of beaches in the state, leading to local leaders fearing visitors will overrun them in the midst of a pandemic. There are more than 7,000 positive cases and 229 deaths in the state.
Back in early March, David Ige asked his second in command, Lt. Gov. Josh Green, to use his expertise as an emergency room doctor and play a key role in the state’s response to the pandemic. But when Green started to push for aggressive measures — suspending nonessential travel to the island, banning cruise ships from disembarking, implementing a quarantine for travelers — Ige allegedly iced him out. (He denies it.) Reports say he ordered cabinet officials to not consult Green. The lieutenant was also reportedly asked to leave press conferences led by Ige and the Hawaii Department of Health.
While the internal spat was going on, tourists decided to ride out the pandemic in Hawaii — a selfish move that put residents at risk. Despite Green’s early recommendations, it took nearly three weeks before Ige ordered a 14-day quarantine for visitors and returning residents. The duo has since smoothed over their differences.
For weeks, Tate Reeves resisted issuing a stay-at-home order. The decision was completely ideological and had little to do with what public health experts were recommending. “Mississippi’s never going to be China,” he said. “Mississippi’s never going to be North Korea.”
On March 25, Reeves issued an executive order that created mass confusion because it seemed to supersede the restrictions put in place by county and city leaders. For example, towns had required restaurants to close their dining rooms entirely, while Reeves’ executive order allowed for a maximum of 10 people to dine in place. He eventually corrected the record, saying the order set the minimum standards local leaders should follow. Eventually, Reeves relented and issued a statewide stay-at-home measure on April 1.