Top Senate Democrat 'appalled and astonished' by Trump team's 'inadequacy of preparedness' in coronavirus fight

Top Senate Democrat 'appalled and astonished' by Trump team's 'inadequacy of preparedness' in coronavirus fight
Image via Screengrab.
David Badash
and
 The New Civil Rights Movement
February 25, 2020

A top Senate Democrat who just attended Tuesday morning’s Capitol Hill briefing on the coronavirus is warning that the Trump administration is not prepared to combat the virus that has killed more than 2600 people worldwide.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) says he is “appalled & astonished … by the inadequacy of preparedness & prevention” in the U.S.

The markets would appear to agree. On Monday the DOW plummeted over 1000 points – making it the worst day in two years.

President Donald Trump, rather than taking decisive action is doing little other than just now requesting $2.5 billion from Congress to begin preparing for the coronavirus. There are 53 confirmed cases in the U.S. right now.

Tuesday morning Trump effectively admitted he is just beginning to prepare for the coronavirus.

Science journalist Laurie Garrett, who won the Pulitzer prize for her reporting on Ebola, warned just weeks ago in a Foreign Policy op-ed that “Trump Has Sabotaged America’s Coronavirus Response.” She adds: “As it improvises its way through a public health crisis, the United States has never been less prepared for a pandemic.”

While Trump has done little to protect Americans from the virus spreading in the U.S., he just begun a PR offensive via Twitter, with this:

Trump postred this tweet Monday, literally minutes after the DOW closed down 1032 points over coronavirus fears.

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