How Trump Lost Control Of The Coronavirus Pandemic, Told As A Motion Comic

Summary

The video script contrasts South Korea and the United States' responses to the first COVID-19 cases in 2020. While South Korea swiftly developed tests and enforced quarantines, leading to a rapid return to normalcy, the U.S. administration downplayed the threat, delayed testing, and disbanded the pandemic response team. This divergence in approach resulted in South Korea's successful containment and the U.S. experiencing a prolonged crisis with over 200,000 deaths by October 1, 2020.

Takeaways

• 🌐 On January 20, 2020, the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in both the United States and South Korea, marking the beginning of their respective national responses to the pandemic.
• 🏥 South Korea quickly developed a test for the virus and initiated quarantine measures, while the United States did not take immediate drastic steps to prevent the spread of the virus.
• 📢 Former President George W. Bush had a pandemic response plan in place, which was expanded by President Obama but was not utilized effectively by the Trump administration.
• 🛑 South Korea's response to its first MERS outbreak in 2015 demonstrated its ability to trace, test, and quarantine, which was instrumental in its COVID-19 response.
• 🛍 South Korea's rapid response allowed it to keep many businesses open during the pandemic, unlike the United States, which faced widespread shutdowns.
• 🚫 The Trump administration initially downplayed the severity of COVID-19 and resisted implementing measures such as widespread testing and social distancing.
• 💉 The CDC's reluctance to use WHO-provided tests and the distribution of faulty tests in the United States hindered an effective response to the pandemic.
• 💼 Conflicts within the Trump administration, including budget disagreements and a lack of clear guidance from the White House, delayed the U.S. response.
• 📉 The U.S. stock market's reaction to the administration's handling of the pandemic and the subsequent public health measures had a significant economic impact.
• 🗳️ Political rhetoric from the Trump administration and Fox News attempted to downplay the pandemic, with claims that it would 'disappear' and accusations of it being a 'hoax'.
• 🏥 Despite early optimism, the U.S. faced a severe outbreak with a high death toll, reaching over 200,000 by October 1, 2020, and President Trump himself contracted the virus on October 2.

Q & A

What was the first reported symptom of the novel coronavirus in the American man from Washington State?

The first reported symptoms of the novel coronavirus in the American man from Washington State were a fever and cough, which he had been suffering from for four days.

How did South Korea respond to the first case of novel coronavirus compared to the United States?

South Korea took immediate drastic steps to prevent the virus from spreading, while the United States did not take immediate action, with President Trump stating that the situation was under control.

What was the experience of South Korea with epidemics prior to the novel coronavirus outbreak?

South Korea had experience dealing with epidemics, notably the MERS outbreak in 2015, where the government traced, tested, and quarantined 17,000 people to contain the disease.

What book did President George W. Bush read that influenced his views on pandemic preparedness?

President George W. Bush read 'The Great Influenza' by historian John M. Barry, which shook him with the story of a plague that killed millions and led him to prioritize pandemic preparedness.

What action did President Trump take regarding the pandemic response team?

President Trump disbanded the pandemic response team in 2018, despite the team being part of the preparedness strategy against potential outbreaks.

How quickly did South Korea develop a test for the novel coronavirus after the first case was detected?

South Korea developed a test for the novel coronavirus within a week of detecting its first case, and mass production of tests began immediately after approval on February 7th.

What challenges did the United States face in terms of testing for the novel coronavirus?

The United States faced challenges with testing due to initial pushback on using tests from the World Health Organization, and the CDC's own tests were limited in number and faulty.

What was the initial reaction of President Trump to the first confirmed case of novel coronavirus in the United States?

President Trump downplayed the first confirmed case, stating that it was under control and comparing it to just one person coming in from China.

What was the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak on the CDC's budget?

The CDC's budget was cut by over a billion dollars by President Trump and Congress, which could have impacted their ability to respond to the outbreak.

What was the United States' strategy for dealing with the novel coronavirus compared to South Korea's?

The United States initially downplayed the threat and delayed implementing testing and quarantine measures, whereas South Korea rapidly developed tests, mass-produced them, and maintained a large stockpile of medical equipment, allowing them to keep many businesses open.

How did President Trump's response to the novel coronavirus differ from the advice of his health experts?

President Trump often contradicted his health experts, downplaying the severity of the virus and prioritizing economic concerns over public health measures, while his experts pushed for more testing and social distancing.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Global Response to the Coronavirus Outbreak

The script describes the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the first confirmed cases in the United States and South Korea on January 20, 2020. It contrasts the immediate and drastic measures taken by South Korea to prevent the spread of the virus with the initial downplaying of the threat by the United States. The narrative includes historical context, referencing past experiences with MERS in South Korea and the creation of an outbreak response plan by the Bush administration, which was later expanded by Obama and inherited by Trump, who then disbanded the pandemic response team. The summary also details South Korea's swift development of a test and quarantine strategy, in contrast to the U.S.'s delayed and contentious approach to testing and equipment procurement.

05:02

📉 The U.S. Government's Initial Missteps and the Pandemic's Escalation

This paragraph delves into the U.S. government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, beginning with internal debates over travel bans and funding for equipment. It outlines the World Health Organization's distribution of tests and the CDC's decision not to use them, leading to the U.S.'s own faulty tests. The narrative describes political and economic concerns that influenced the government's actions, including budget disputes and the impact of messaging on public perception. The paragraph also covers the administration's shift in tone from dismissing the virus to acknowledging its severity, with a focus on the president's public statements and the eventual implementation of social distancing measures. The summary highlights the U.S.'s delayed and often contradictory response, culminating in a national emergency declaration and the country's struggle to catch up with the rapidly spreading virus.

Keywords

💡Novel Coronavirus

The term 'Novel Coronavirus' refers to a new strain of coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans. In the context of the video, this virus, specifically COVID-19, is the central focus as it emerged in Wuhan, China, and spread globally, leading to a pandemic. The script describes the first confirmed cases in the United States and South Korea, marking the beginning of the countries' responses to the virus.

💡Emergency Health Clinic

An 'Emergency Health Clinic' is a medical facility designed to provide immediate care for illnesses or injuries that require prompt attention but are not life-threatening enough to necessitate a visit to an emergency room. In the video script, the mention of an emergency health clinic in Washington State signifies the first point of contact for the 35-year-old American man who was among the earliest COVID-19 patients in the U.S.

💡Quarantine

Quarantine is a public health practice of isolating individuals who may have been exposed to a contagious disease to prevent its spread. The script highlights South Korea's immediate response to COVID-19, which included developing tests and initiating quarantine measures, a stark contrast to the initial response in the United States.

💡MERS

MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, is a viral respiratory illness caused by the MERS coronavirus. The script refers to the 2015 outbreak in South Korea, which infected 186 people and resulted in 36 deaths. This incident is mentioned to illustrate South Korea's prior experience in handling epidemics and its subsequent preparedness for COVID-19.

💡Outbreak Response Plan

An 'Outbreak Response Plan' is a strategic document outlining the steps to be taken in the event of an epidemic or pandemic. The video script describes how the U.S. had such a plan in place, developed during President George W. Bush's administration and expanded by President Obama, but it was not effectively utilized during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

💡Pandemic Response Team

A 'Pandemic Response Team' is a group of experts assembled to manage and mitigate the impact of a pandemic. The script notes that President Trump disbanded the U.S. pandemic response team in 2018, which is a critical point in understanding the U.S. government's initial lack of preparedness for COVID-19.

💡Mass Producing Tests

The phrase 'Mass Producing Tests' refers to the large-scale manufacturing of diagnostic tests to identify infections quickly. The video script contrasts South Korea's rapid approval and mass production of COVID-19 tests with the U.S.'s slower response and initial distribution of faulty tests.

💡Travel Ban

A 'Travel Ban' is a restriction on travel from certain regions or countries, often implemented during a health crisis to prevent the spread of disease. The script discusses the U.S. travel ban on China and the debate over extending it to other countries, highlighting the challenges in balancing public health with economic and political considerations.

💡Defense Production Act

The 'Defense Production Act' is a law that gives the U.S. President the authority to compel private companies to prioritize and accept contracts for materials needed for national defense. In the script, it is mentioned as a potential tool to ramp up production of medical equipment during the pandemic, but the Trump administration initially resisted using it.

💡Social Distancing

Social distancing is a set of public health practices aimed at preventing sick people from coming in close contact with healthy people in order to slow the spread of a disease. The video script describes how social distancing was eventually implemented in the U.S., but only after a period of downplaying the severity of COVID-19 by the administration.

💡National Emergency

A 'National Emergency' is a proclamation by the U.S. President to allocate resources and take extraordinary measures in response to a crisis affecting the nation. The script indicates that President Trump declared a national emergency on March 13, 2020, a significant step in the U.S. government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

💡Unemployment

Unemployment refers to the state of workers being without jobs and actively seeking work. The script mentions record high unemployment numbers in the U.S. as a consequence of the measures taken to combat COVID-19, illustrating the economic impact of the pandemic.

💡Hydroxychloroquine

Hydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial drug that was mentioned by President Trump as a potential treatment for COVID-19, despite limited evidence of its effectiveness at the time. The script uses this as an example of the misinformation and confusion surrounding the U.S. response to the pandemic.

Highlights

On January 19th, 2020, a 35-year-old American man and a 35-year-old South Korean woman, both arriving from Wuhan, China, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, marking the first cases in the US and South Korea respectively.

South Korea took immediate drastic steps to prevent the virus from spreading, unlike the United States.

President Trump downplayed the virus, stating it was 'totally under control' and would be 'just fine'.

Both countries had experience dealing with epidemics and deadly viruses, with South Korea's response to MERS in 2015 and the US's pandemic plan from the Bush administration.

The Trump administration disbanded the pandemic response team in 2018, despite warnings and simulations of potential outbreaks.

South Korea developed a test and began quarantining people immediately after detecting the first coronavirus case.

South Korea collaborated with private research companies to approve and mass-produce tests within two weeks.

The US struggled with a lack of testing and faulty tests, with the CDC only shipping out 90 tests by a certain point.

President Trump ignored requests to prioritize testing and instead focused on travel bans affecting China.

The US administration faced internal conflict over funding for equipment like ventilators and masks.

The World Health Organization shipped out coronavirus tests to various countries, but the US did not receive any due to the CDC's refusal.

State governors were warned about the potential severity of an outbreak in the US, but faced budget cuts to the CDC.

President Trump made misleading claims about the availability of tests and his own knowledge of the virus.

The US declared a national emergency on March 13th, marking a late start in securing tests and medical equipment.

President Trump's daily contradictions of his own experts and promotion of unproven treatments like Hydroxychloroquine drew criticism.

South Korea managed to keep many businesses open through the spring due to its rapid response, while the US faced widespread shutdowns and record unemployment.

If the US had the same death rate as South Korea, the death toll by October 1 would have been significantly lower than the actual 200,000+.

President Trump announced on October 2 that he had contracted the virus.

Transcripts

- [Narrator] On January 19th, 2020,

a 35-year-old American man

entered an emergency health clinic in Washington State.

He had been suffering from a fever and cough for four days.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world,

a 35-year-old South Korean woman had arrived

at Incheon International Airport

in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

She had a fever, chills, and muscle pain,

but had been told by a doctor she merely had a cold.

Both had just arrived from Wuhan, China.

The next day, January 20th,

both tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The first case in each country.

South Korea took immediate drastic steps

to prevent the virus from spreading.

The United States did not.

- [Trump] We have it totally under control.

It's one person coming in from China.

It's going to be just fine.

- [Narrator] Both South Korea and the United States

had emergency plans for dealing with epidemics

and experience fighting deadly viruses.

In 2015, a South Korean businessman

came down with MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome,

after returning from a business trip.

It spread to 186 people. 36 died.

The government rushed to trace, test,

and quarantine 17,000 people.

A decade earlier, President George W. Bush

was at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

As he read through the galley of an upcoming book,

"The Great Influenza", by historian John M. Barry,

he was shaken by the story

of a mysterious plague that killed millions worldwide.

He feared it could happen again.

- [Bush] If we wait for a pandemic to appear,

it will be too late to prepare,

and one day many lives could be needlessly lost

because we failed to act today.

- [Narrator] His administration created

a 381 page outbreak response plan.

President Obama used it to fight Ebola in 2014,

and then expanded it.

The plan was passed on

to Donald Trump's incoming administration.

They were shown a simulation of what could happen.

Some napped through the presentation,

and in 2018 President Donald Trump disbanded

the pandemic response team.

In January of 2020,

when South Korea detected its first coronavirus case,

the country's leaders immediately got to work.

Their first task, develop a test,

and start quarantining people right away.

Within a week, the government

and its center for disease control

sat down with 20 private research companies.

Less than two weeks later on February 7th,

the first test was approved.

Pharmaceutical companies immediately

began mass producing tests.

The government shored up their already large

stockpile of medical equipment.

Because of the rapid response,

South Korea was able to keep many factories,

shopping malls, and restaurants open through the spring.

Meanwhile, in the United States,

on the last day of 2019, Alex Azar,

the Department of Health and Human Services secretary,

got a call from the CDC.

Azar informed the White House National Security Council

about the emerging outbreak.

Azar formed a task force

of the US' top public health experts

to prepare the country for a worst case scenario

including Dr. Anthony Fauci,

the director of the National Institute

of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

who had overseen the US' response

to HIV, Swine Flu, Zika, and Ebola.

Their priorities?

Medical equipment for testing and a quarantine strategy.

They drafted plans to implement the Defense Production Act,

where private companies are compelled to produce equipment,

but the pushback from the Trump administration

was immediate.

While Fauci and his team were working

to understand the virus and prepare the country,

Azar was finding it difficult

to get guidance from the White House.

Azar finally got through to Trump on January 18th.

The president was vacationing in Mar-a-Lago,

and didn't want to talk about the virus.

Instead, he complained about Azar's handling

of a recent vaping ban.

When the first patient,

the 35-year-old man in Washington State, was diagnosed,

the president immediately down played it.

- [Trump] 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.

- [Narrator] The next day, China shut down Wuhan

and Hubei province to contain the disease.

In an email chain on January 28th,

Carter Mecher warned the projected size of the outbreak

already seems hard to believe.

He was one of the medical advisors

who introduced the concept of social distancing

into the George W. Bush pandemic plan.

The National Security Council

created its own coronavirus task force,

including Azar and Fauci,

but Trump continued to downplay the danger.

He ignored requests to prioritize testing,

instead taking action to keep infected people in China.

He announced a travel ban, but over 300,000 people

had already come to the US from China

since the start of the outbreak.

Many insiders wanted more,

namely travel bans to and from other countries like Italy,

but Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, overruled them,

fearing bans could hinder

the US economy and international trade.

Azar worried they weren't doing enough

and asked for $4 billion

to stockpile ventilators, masks, and other equipment.

The budget team was outraged and an argument broke out

in the White House Situation Room.

On February 6th, the World Health Organization

shipped out 250,000 coronavirus tests to various countries.

America received none because the CDC said

the US didn't "need somebody else's test".

But the CDC had only shipped out 90 tests by that point,

and most of them were faulty.

At a black tie event a few nights later,

state governors were warned about how bad

an outbreak in the United States could become.

Many of the governors were rattled by what they heard.

But earlier that day, the president and Congress

had cut well over a billion dollars in CDC funding,

and in New Hampshire one day later,

Trump continued to strike an optimistic tone.

- [Trump] It looks like by April,

in theory, when it gets a little warmer,

it miraculously goes away.

I hope that's true.

- [Narrator] Several days later

without consulting him first,

Trump's team publicly announced recommendations

to limit public gatherings,

to close schools and most offices.

Trump watched in anger from Air Force One

as the stock market plunged.

When he landed on February 26th,

he berated Azar for scaring people.

Trump canceled his meeting about social distancing.

He then put vice president, Mike Pence,

in charge of the White House coronavirus response.

And it was full court press

by the administration and Fox News

to convince everyone there was nothing to worry about.

- [Trump] Coronavirus.

And this is the new hoax.

- [Kudlow] We have contained this, I won't say air tight,

but pretty close to air tight.

- [McEnany] This president will always put America first.

He will always protect American citizens.

We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here.

- [Hannity] Now we have some on the left,

literally whipping this country into a frenzy,

so I'm promoting extreme measures immediately.

Close schools immediately.

Daycare centers. Businesses.

- [Trump] It's going to disappear one day.

It's like a miracle. It will disappear.

- [McEnany] What is bad for America is good for Democrats.

It's incredible that they think this way.

They root against the stock market.

They root for this to take hold.

They have a demented dream of taking down President Trump.

It doesn't matter how many Americans they destroy

in order to get there.

- [Trump] So far, we have lost nobody to coronavirus

in the United States.

- [Narrator] But the very next day,

Washington State reported

the US' first death from COVID-19.

At the beginning of March,

Trump toured the CDC and falsely claimed

that anyone who wanted a test could get one.

- [Trump] 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.

- [Narrator] As the number of cases reported in the US

passed 100, Trump acknowledged the epidemic

in a somber and then televised address that night.

- [Trump] It only matters how you respond,

and we are responding with great speed and professionalism.

This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort

to confront a foreign virus in modern history.

- [Narrator] The government's race to secure tests

and medical equipment began on March 13th

when Trump declared a national emergency.

By this point, the US was months behind other countries.

Trump announced social distancing guidelines on March 16th

meant to last two weeks,

but he wanted to roll them back earlier.

His closest advisors argued with him

saying it was unrealistic.

He contradicted his own experts daily,

sometimes within minutes.

- [Trump] We have stockpiled Hydroxychloroquine.

- [Narrator] Critics said he still

was not taking the pandemic seriously.

- [Trump] I've always known this is a pandemic.

I felt it was a pandemic

long before it was called a pandemic.

- [Narrator] By the beginning of April,

South Korea emerged from isolation

and was heading back to normal.

Many businesses reopened.

Even more restaurants and cafes were bustling.

Meanwhile, in the United States,

the virus was still spreading.

The country was largely shut down

and unemployment numbers hit record highs.

The US was well on its way

to leading the world in coronavirus cases,

and yet the nation began to reopen

through the summer and fall.

If the US had managed to keep its death rate

the same as South Korea's,

fewer than 3,000 people would have died by October 1.

Instead, the death toll reached over 200,000.

And on October 2, President Trump announced

that he had contracted the virus.