Throughout the Coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump has consistently seemed unaware of some of the basic facts surrounding the situation — for example, he seemed surprised at the piece of information that the common flu kills significant numbers of people every year. The problem is that now is not the time for an egomaniacal real estate owner to learn some basic public health facts — now is the time for a leader to coordinate U.S. responses to a public health crisis. After Trump tweeted an all caps message proclaiming “SOCIAL DISTANCING” early this Saturday as if he’d just heard of the concept that people had been discussing for weeks, he faced steep mockery.
That’s literally all that his original tweet said — “SOCIAL DISTANCING!” The message came right after he wrote on the platform that he was “Attending meetings on Covid-19 in the White House” and “Working with States and local governments, many of whom have done a great job.” (He also soon after announced that he’d be hosting yet another press conference at the White House this Saturday afternoon.)
Attending meetings on Covid-19 in the White House. Working with States and local governments, many of whom have done a great job. Full report latter!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 14, 2020
SOCIAL DISTANCING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 14, 2020
The social distancing concept refers to people keeping themselves as apart as feasibly possible in order to help stem the spread of the virus. With that virus spread prevention mechanism in mind, the pace of closures of major venues and events across the United States has unfolded wildly rapidly in recent days. For example, at this point, essentially all professional sports are postponed until further notice, many school districts around the country have indefinitely postponed in-person classes, and some locales, like the Seattle-area, have even seen all events with more than 250 people outright banned.
Overall, the crisis is still rapidly developing. The U.S. has around 2,500 confirmed cases of the virus at present, and there have been at least 51 deaths, including the newly announced first death from the virus in New York. Next week, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) calls the Senate back from their weekend break that he inexplicably left in place, Congress is set to send a new Coronavirus funding relief package to the president for a signature.
Check out Twitter’s response to Trump’s incompetence
