> On 24 February, Trump claimed “the coronavirus is very much under control in the USA”. The next day, Nancy Messonnier, the CDC’s top official on respiratory d

> On 24 February, Trump claimed “the coronavirus is very much under control in the USA”. The next day, Nancy Messonnier, the CDC’s top official on respiratory diseases, took the radically different approach of telling the truth, warning the American people that “disruption to everyday life might be severe”. > Trump was reportedly so angered by the comment and its impact on share prices that he shouted down the phone at Messonnier’s boss, the secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar. It goes much further. The administration clearly intended to keep "the numbers" down by actively blocking tests. The ineffective tests kits from the CDC were a mistake. But commanding local authorities to refrain from testing was clearly designed to hide the scale of the problem from the American public. "Nobody could have predicted" because nobody was allowed to test, and those raising the alarm were shouted down in the interest of propping up the failing stock market.