Federal Response

Trump Declares National Emergency for COVID-19 After Weeks of Denialism and Delay

| Importance: 8/10

President Trump declared COVID-19 a national emergency on March 13, 2020—approximately six weeks after Health Secretary Alex Azar had declared it a public health emergency—finally acknowledging the severity of a pandemic he had spent weeks downplaying and dismissing as a Democratic …

Donald Trump Alex Azar Mike Pence COVID-19 Public Health Accountability Crisis Federal Response
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