January 22: When asked if there were concerns about a pandemic Trump said, “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
January 24: “It will all work out well.”
January 28: Trump retweeted One America News claiming Johnson & Johnson was creating a vaccine.
January 30: “We have it very well under control."
January 31, Trump limited air travel by foreigners who had recently traveled to China. He’s endlessly bragged about that move, but he didn’t accompany it with any other serious measures to contain the virus in the U.S.
February 2: “Well, we pretty much shut it down coming in from China,” Trump claims in an interview with Sean Hannity.
February 10: "Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”
February 19: “I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along.”
February 23: “We have [coronavirus] very much under control in this country.”
February 25 Trump started ranting about “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer.”
February 26. Trump tweeted that the media was "panicking markets" by reporting on coronavirus.
February 28: Trump blames“The Democrat policy of open borders.” Trump also claimed “we’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up” and “It’s going to disappear. One day—it’s like a miracle—it will disappear.”
February 29: Trump claimed a vaccine would be available “very quickly” and that “my administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to confront the spread of this disease.” False and false.
March 2: Trump discovers that the flu also kills people, and tries to change the subject to the flu.
March 4: Trump tells Hannity that the fatality rate is lower than the World Health Organization’s latest number.
March 7: Asked if he’s concerned that the virus is getting closer to the White House, Trump responds “No, I’m not concerned at all. No, I’m not. No, we’ve done a great job.” This remark is made at Mar-a-Lago, before dinner with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Three people at Mar-a-Lago that night have tested positive for coronavirus.
March 10: “It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
March 11: In a televised address, Trump told the nation "Testing and testing capabilities are expanding rapidly, day by day. We are moving very quickly." (This is patently not true-- U.S. daily testing only exceeded 10,000 for the first time on March 16. In contrast, South Korea has been testing in excess of 12,000 per day since early February.) "I will soon be taking emergency action, which is unprecedented, to provide financial relief." (one week later, no checks have been sent out). The morning after the speech, Wall Street halted trading after the S&P fell 7% in the first 15 minutes.
March 13: Trump blasted PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor for pressing him on whether he takes responsibility for eliminating the Global Health Security team in the National Security Council, calling it a "nasty question"
March 15: Trump said millions of new coronavirus tests would be made available in the coming weeks, and claimed his administration had “tremendous control” over the spread of the disease." Dow futures plunged shortly after the president's remarks, hitting the 5% "limit down" threshold implemented by the futures exchange to prevent panic selling.
March 16: Trump refers to COVID-19 as the "Chinese virus" which sparks anger in China and further damages diplomatic relations with the country.
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