We Are Not Prepared for the Next Pandemic
Over six million people died in the two-year period between March 2020 and March 2022. We were utterly unprepared. The magnitude of this loss could have been prevented had immediate action been taken. But then President, Donald J. Trump, was slow to respond.
Are we ready for the next round? We are not. Let’s take a look back at how the Trump Administration handled the COVID-19 Outbreak.
Trump Administration’s Disastrous COVID-19 Response
On January 20, 2020, COVID-19 unpacked his bags, and set up shop in the U.S. just five short weeks after starting his journey in China’s Hubei Provence. How was it so easy for him to slip through?
2018 Pre-Pandemic
Trump and his team disbanded the pandemic response team in May of 2018.
2019 Pre-Pandemic
No hands on deck in China because Trump failed to fill a July vacated position on China’s disease control agency.
The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response alerted Trump that, “Currently, there are insufficient funding sources designated for the federal government to use in response to a severe influenza pandemic.” He ignored the warning. This was in October of 2019—just a few short months before COVID-19 arrived in the U.S.
2020 - COVID-19 Takes Up Residence
At the first of January, several countries issued nearly-daily warnings that we were dealing with a dangerous infection. On January 29th, Trump assures the country that, “We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine,” and takes no action.
Less than a month later, he once again assures us that everything is under control, and as an odd sidenote says, “Stock market starting to look very good to me.”
Trump’s team issues dire, but unheeded, warnings at the end of January. Nonetheless, on February 2, 2020, Trump says, “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
“This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency...This is going to be the roughest thing you face.” ”
“The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on US soil,...This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans.”
Trump’s Handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic Considered Colossal Failure
400,000 Americans dead for the lack of action on the part of the Trump Administration.
March 17, 2020 - Trump, who swore repeatedly that this was no big deal and that it would just disappear, claimed to have been on top of the situation from the beginning says, “I’ve always known this is a real—this is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” He certainly did not behave as if it were a pandemic. As Trump exited the Oval Office for the last time, over 400,000 American souls trailed behind. He will carry them with him forever.
From the day COVID unpacked his bags in the U.S., we saw monthly death rates rise drastically through the end of 2020. Vaccines were late to come out, and when they did, they came accompanied with a plethora of misinformation that discouraged many to avoid the vaccines. Many of those people died.
In December 2020 85,259 people lost their lives. The monthly death statistics in 2020 looked like a roller coaster chug chugging to the apex before dropping. His handling of the COVID-19 pandemic will be remembered as a tragic failure.
“As Trump exited the Oval Office for the last time, over 400,000 American souls trailed behind. He will carry them with him forever.”
2021 - 2024 Pandemic Recovery
The Biden Administration stepped into a nightmare of despair and death—both literally and figuratively. The death toll continued to climb for the first three months of Biden’s term as He reached his goal of 200 million vaccinations in his first 100 days, an uptick in his initial goal of 100 million. This, in spite of ensuing issues with supply and a reluctant populace who had fallen prey to misinformation regarding vaccine safety and effectiveness.
While those first three weeks saw the death rate continue to climb, by the end of his third week in office, that roller coaster hit its apex and began its long-awaited descent. Deaths dropped from roughly 25,000 per week at the beginning of January 2021 to just over 1,500 by the first of July.
The lower death rates made us complacent and states dropped stay-at-home and distancing mandates. The new Delta variant quickly followed and being more virulent caught those resistant to getting the vaccine or even wearing masks by surprise.
It was mid-2022 before the virus settled down. He hasn’t packed up and left us, but he’s keeping to himself more.
I could go on . . . and on . . . and on, but I encourage you to see Lloyd Doggett’s Coronavirus timeline, and if you don’t want to hear it from a Democrat Congressman, then check out the CDC’s website before it’s taken down. More resources are listed below.
The Next Pandemic is a Given, and We Are At Risk
Factors that edge us closer to the next outbreak.
Trump. Who was such a roaring failure in the first pandemic is large and in charge.
Climate change
Melting glaciers and permafrost release long-dormant viruses we are unprepared to mitigate.
Rising temperatures increase insect populations and insect-borne diseases.
Drastic cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Habitat degradation brings us in closer contact with animals, a common vehicle for emerging diseases.
Deep slashes in Medicaid and other social safety nets, massive layoffs in critical government institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes
Increased poverty exposes people to poor health care and unsafe, unclean conditions.
Withdrawal from the WHO Exposes Us to Increased Risk
Trump’s nationalism has effectively cut us off from avenues by which we could be informed of a disease threat before it begins to spread, exposing us to increased risk. On day one of his second term, Trump signed an Executive Order pulling us out of the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO is an important communications vehicle that allows multiple countries to work together on a common problem. Instead of remaining on track with the WHO, we may find ourselves sidelined, with no say in how we respond to a global threat.
Trump Leaves us Unguarded Against Future Viruses
We saw what happened under Trump V.1. Things will only escalate under Trump V.2 as all of the safeguards are gone. Those voices that held sway and kept him somewhat in check in his first term no longer exist as he replaced them all with dangerously unqualified sycophants.
Trump places Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a notorious anti-vaxxer, in charge of the nation’s health.
Eliminated $500 million from mRNA vaccine research, recognized for its fast, economical manufacturing, quick development and safety, a must-have tool to fight future outbreaks. Leadership should be rolling out vaccines as quickly and to as many people as possible—not scaring people into rejecting them, propounding fake “alternative” cures, or cutting vaccine research and development funding.
Stripped grants, already approved by Congress, away from researchers and universities, placing science in a chokehold. Beyond rampant and scythe-wielding budget cuts, these funds were also inflicted as punishments to those that were not “loyal”. While a Federal Court has put the kibosh on some of those cuts. It is a temporary solution, which will end up at the Supreme Court, who has shown little intention to hold Trump accountable.
Resources
WORLDOMETER, COVID-19 Coronavirus / Death Toll, April 13, 2024
CDC, CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline, July 8, 2024
Lloyd Doggett, US Representative, Trump’s Coronavirus Timeline, March 2, 2022
Business Insider, The Trump administration ran a simulation for a virus last year that revealed many of the failures now happening with the coronavirus, March 18, 2020
New York Times, Before Virus Outbreak, a Cascade of Warnings Went Unheeded, David E. Sanger Eric Lipton Eileen Sullivan and Michael Crowley, March 19, 2020Updated Sept. 4, 2021
Politico, ‘It’s going to disappear’: Trump’s changing tone on coronavirus, Dan Goldberg, March 17, 2020,
UGA Today, Could poverty trigger the next pandemic?, Leigh Hataway, June 2, 2025
UN Environment Programme, Could microbes, locked in Arctic ice for millennia, unleash a wave of deadly diseases?, January 27, 2025
John Hopkins University Bloomberg School, The U.S. and the WHO: An Imperfect but Essential Relationship, Edited by Aliza Rosen, January 30, 2025
National Library of Medicine National Center for Biotechnology Information, Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…?, Luis Andrés Yarzábal, Lenys M Buela Salazar, Ramón Alberto Batista-García, 2021
CDC, Provisional COVID-19 Mortality Surveillance, As of August 28, 2025
MedPage Today, Groups Call for RFK Jr. to Be Impeached. Here's What That Would Take., Kristina Fiore, August 14, 2025
National Library of Medicine National Center for Biotechnology Information, A Comprehensive Review of mRNA Vaccines,
Association of Health Care Journalist, What to know about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine advocacy, Tara Haelle, December 6, 2024
Brennan Center for Justice, Supreme Court Must Explain Why It Keeps Ruling in Trump’s Favor, Alicia Bannon, August 14, 2025