If only ...

People think Trump declared a national emergency regarding the COVID-19 virus on Jan. 31. Unfortunately, it's not true. After learning of the virus in December of 2019 and realizing it was spreading globally throughout January, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services declared the public emergency on Jan. 31. Then Trump suspended the entry to the U.S. of nationals from People's Republic of China, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Schengen Area of Europe. But U.S. citizens were allowed to return home. A huge percentage of those returning, though, were coming from the very countries Trump had just banned, unknowingly bringing/carrying the virus with them and spreading it here.

On March 11, the WHO declared this virus a pandemic as the rates of infection climbed rapidly around the world. It wasn't until March 13 that Trump issued his Proclamation on Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak, retroactive to March 1. Federal, state, local governments started to take more serious preventive measures.

This proclamation was made three months after the virus was first detected, six weeks after the HHS declared a national emergency and two days after the WHO declared it a pandemic. At the time, there were 1,645 confirmed COVID-19 cases in 47 states.

What happened in February? Trump spent 6-7 days golfing at Mar-a-Lago, held 3 fundraisers, 5 MAGA rallies, compared the virus to a hoax and said "this virus, like a miracle, will disappear." Trump and his administration downplayed the seriousness of this virus before finally issuing his declaration and isolation guidelines.

There are now hundreds of thousands of confirmed cases and tens of thousands of deaths as of this writing. To think, these numbers would be smaller if action had been taken earlier.

Mary Kay Arndt

Arlington Heights