The Public Health Response of the US Federal Government to the Coronavirus Crisis and the Narrative of Donald J. Trump

ABSTRACT

Since first coming to the attention of the global public in January 2020, few countries in the world have been as severely impacted by the novel coronavirus as the United States. Though it holds just four per cent of the world's total population, as of mid-2020 the US leads the world with a quarter of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths. Despite this dire situation, the Administration of President Donald J. Trump has frequently downplayed the severity of the virus, and Trump himself has often relayed misinformation to the American public about both the virus itself and his Administration's response to it. Accordingly, independent analysis has ranked the US last in "fact-based communications” about the coronavirus when compared to other nations with advanced economies. This chapter provides a chronological overview of how the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded in the US through September 2020, with a particular focus on the various comments made by President Trump. By drawing on Trump's many public statements, the chapter pieces together the narrative that Trump has constructed about the coronavirus crisis and examines that narrative in light of the broader public health response of the US federal government to the pandemic. In concluding, it finds that Trump's narrative has been erratic, divisive, and misleading and that this, combined with a chaotic federal response to the crisis, has undermined public health in the United States. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.