Trump minimized virus, as experts’ alarm grew

WASHINGTON » Public health officials were already warning Americans about the need to prepare for the coronavirus threat in early February when President Donald Trump called it “deadly stuff” in a private, recently revealed conversation.

At the time, the virus was mostly a problem in China, with just 11 US cases confirmed. There was uncertainty about how the U.S. would be affected, and top U.S. officials would deliver mixed messages. But their overall thrust was to take the thing seriously.

But Trump had a louder megaphone than his experts and in public was playing down the threat. Three days after delivering his “deadly” assessment in a private call with journalist Bob Woodward, he told a New Hampshire rally on Feb. 10, “It’s going to be fine.”

Trump’s acknowledgment in Woodward’s new book “Rage” he was minimizing the severity of the virus in public to avoid causing panic has triggered criticism that he wasn’t leveling with the American people.