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Some highlights from our NYT team:
The NSC office responsible for tracking pandemics received intel in early Jan. predicting the spread of the virus and warned that shutting down cities could be on the table. Mr. Trump avoided those steps until March.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html 1/9
The NSC office responsible for tracking pandemics received intel in early Jan. predicting the spread of the virus and warned that shutting down cities could be on the table. Mr. Trump avoided those steps until March.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html 1/9
Despite Mr. Trump’s denial weeks later, he was told at the time about a Jan. 29 memo produced by his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, laying out in striking detail the potential risks of a coronavirus pandemic: as many as half a millions deaths and trillions in economic losses. 2/9
The HHS secretary, Alex M. Azar II, directly warned Mr. Trump of the possibility of a pandemic during a call on Jan. 30, the second warning he delivered to the president about the virus in two weeks. The president responded that Mr. Azar was being alarmist. 3/9
Mr. Azar publicly announced in February that the government was establishing a “surveillance” system in five American cities to measure the spread of the virus. It was delayed for weeks. That left officials with almost no insight into how rapidly the virus was spreading. 4/9
“We were flying the plane with no instruments,” one official said. 5/9
By the third week in February, the administration’s top public health experts concluded they should recommend to Mr. Trump a new approach that would include warning the American people of the risks and urging steps like social distancing and staying home from work. 6/9
But the White House focused instead on messaging and crucial additional weeks went by before their views were reluctantly accepted by the president — time when the virus spread largely unimpeded. 7/9
These are hard stories to write - esp. as the nation tries to claw out of the hole we are in. But to those who argue this is no time to look back, remember the hardest decisions are ahead. If we don't learn the lessons of the past three months now, it may be too late. 8/9
Finally, when dealing with the hardest reporting targets it helps to assemble the best in the business: @EricLiptonNYT @maggieNYT @shearm @MarkMazzettiNYT @julianbarnes, with stellar editing from the man who always pushes for more, and insists on fairness: @dickstevenson. 9/9
