. @SecAzar declared a public health emergency on 1/31.

Even at that date, had the federal government reacted aggressively to the impending crisis, we’d almost certainly be in a better position to “reopen” sooner rather than later.

We aren’t in that position *because* it didn’t.

That’s not to say that there aren’t also local officials who wrongly downplayed the risk of #COVID19; there are. But none of them have a CDC. Or FEMA. Or the Defense Production Act. And belated use of those mechanisms is going to be a big reason why “reopening” will take so long.

Thus, for all those who want to point to the half-measures @realDonaldTrump took in January and February (like the belated restriction on *some* travelers from China), the key is that *nothing* appears to have been done to get the country ready for widespread testing and tracing.