No doubt Trump, the president of the United States, haswon the first place of absurdity, with his comments andanswers to the subject “Coronavirus”. You don’t haveto be a genius to confirm it, just listen to him or readwhat he said in the past months. It´s even hard to makeeverything fit in a page. At the end of January, the USpresident still claimed to have everything "completelyunder control", while the cases increased rapidly. A fewweeks later he even used war vocabulary and encouragedresearchers to use life-threatening methods. He ignoredat least 12 Coronavirus warnings in his daily intelligencebriefings.A chronlogy of absurdity:112 // PANDEMIC / CORONAVIRUS: A VIRUS IN MODERN TIMES
22 January (CNBC interview - the day before the first caseof corona in the USA was reported): “We have it totally undercontrol. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it undercontrol. It’s going to be just fine.”30 January (in Michigan - On this day, the WHO declaresthe spread of the virus to be a “health emergency of internationalconcern”): “We think we have it very well under control.We have very little problem in this country at this moment— five — and those people are all recuperating successfully.But we’re working very closely with China and other countries,and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us …that I can assure you.”February 10: “You know in April, supposedly, it dies withthe hotter weather.” He told state governors: “You know, alot of people think that goes away in April with the heat -- asthe heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April.” Andhe said at a campaign rally: “Looks like by April, you know, intheory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.I hope that’s true.”February 25: “ The coronavirus wich is very well under controlin our country. We have very few people with it. The people aregetting better, they’re all getting better. And I think that wholesituation will start working out. Lot of talent, a lot of brain poweris being put behind it. It´s a very good chance you‘re not gonnadie.” There were 53 confirmed cases and no deaths on theday of Trump’s tweet; as of March 11, there were more than1,000 cases and 31 deaths.February 26: Trump baselessly predicts: “I think every aspectof our society should be prepared. I don’t think it’s going tocome to that, especially with the fact that we’re going down,not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.” And hesaid: “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 withina couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s apretty good job we’ve done.” Clearly, the number of US casesand deaths was going up, not down. There were 60 totalcases in the US on the day Trump spoke here.February 26: “This is a flu. This is like a flu,” Trump repeated.“It’s a little like the regular flu that we have flu shots for. Andwe’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.”March 6 (visiting Atlanta): “I like this stuff. I really get it. Peopleare surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctorssaid, ‘How do you know so much about this? ‘ Maybe I havea natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead ofrunning for president.”March 11: “... very important for countries & businesses toknow that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restrictionon travel from Europe. The restriction stops peoplenot goods.”March 15: “This is a very contagious virus. It’s incredible. Butit’s something that we have tremendous control over.”March 17: “I’ve always known this is a — this is a real — thisis a pandemic. I’ve felt it was a pandemic long before it wascalled a pandemic.”March 28: “WE WILL WIN THIS WAR. When we achievethis victory, we will emerge stronger and more united than everbefore!” (US surpasses 100,000 coronavirus cases)March 29: “And so, if we can hold that down... so we havebetween 100- and 200,000 — we all, together, have done avery good job.”April 1: Nobody has ever seen anything like this, where largegroups of people, all of a sudden, just by being in the presenceof somebody, have it. The flu has never been like that.” Almost190,000 US infections were reported the day before.April 3 (on the recommendation to wear fabric masks forprotection): ”It’s going to be, really, a voluntary thing ... I’mchoosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it, andthat’s okay...”April 7:“The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, fundedlargely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will begiving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice onkeeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they giveus such a faulty recommendation?” On 11 March 2020, theWHO officially declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemicApril 23: An expert explained that bleach and disinfectantscan quickly kill the SARS CoV-2 pathogen on metallicsurfaces. Trump took this statement as the basis forthis statement regarding a treatment option for COVID-19: “Right. And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocksit out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can dosomething like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning.Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendousnumber on the lungs. So it would be interesting to checkthat.”... “It wouldn’t be through injection. We’re talking aboutthrough almost a cleaning, sterilization of an area. Maybe itworks, maybe it doesn’t work. But it certainly has a big effectif it’s on a stationary object.”April 23: Trump has another proposal to combat SARS-CoV-2: “So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous —whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light — and I thinkyou said that that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going totest it. And then I said, supposing you brought the light insidethe body, which you can do either through the skin or in someother way, and I think you said you’re going to test that too. Itsounds interesting.”THE MANUAL ON VIRUSES// 113
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