Saturday, February 29
Feb 29: The first death from the coronavirus happens in Washington State. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams echoes CDC guidance encouraging Americans not to buy face masks needed by medical professionals. “They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk,” he says on Twitter. Joe Biden wins the South Carolina Democratic Party presidential primary. *
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No toilet paper, just paper towels. SOL pic.twitter.com/mVW5j3VNZb
— PhilQ™ 😷#WearMask #WashHands #BackOff😷🔥#NoCCP🔥 (@AddoilNoccp) February 29, 2020
Trump compliments the Taliban: "I'll say this for the Taliban — they're great fighters … obviously they're great fighters. All you have to do is ask the Soviet Union." pic.twitter.com/IQvdxkLWez
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 29, 2020
Trump falsely claims his 2016 "Russia, if you're listening" comments soliciting Russian interference were meant in jest. (They were not — and there's video!) pic.twitter.com/I6aSLsRcnX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 29, 2020
"Joe is not going to be running the government. He's just going to be sitting in a home some place" — Trump on Joe Biden pic.twitter.com/yoHVDlDHnx
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 29, 2020
In an effort to convey that most people with COVID-19 have mild illness, I think we overlook that probably all of us have a loved one with a health condition at higher risk. We can all do extra to help keep those people healthy. 1/
— Caitlin Rivers, PhD (@cmyeaton) February 29, 2020
Today @MickMulvaneyOMB claimed the press is covering COVID-19 to make @realDonaldTrump look bad. Today on the South Lawn he said the same thing. At a rally he called the coverage a Hoax. But I sat in an hour-long briefing with the CDC task force. No one has a handle on this. Fact
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) February 29, 2020
This press conference is insane. Two questions for Trump about him using the term “hoax,” none for Anthony Fauci or the CDC director about how COVID-19 could spread through US.
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) February 29, 2020
Terrible news from @cdcgov press conference. First presumptive case of COVID-19 in a health care worker, first “possible outbreak in a skilled nursing facility” in Washington.
— Sheri Fink (@sherifink) February 29, 2020
1. THREAD.
— Cindy Otis (@CindyOtis_) February 29, 2020
There's a fake news story circulating from a website called "MCM News" claiming the Pope has the #coronavirus. The domain was registered in 2016 by a domain squatter in China. The registration was changed three days ago on 26 Feb. pic.twitter.com/G6FLGEm9vg
- Lynn, Adam. “First US Coronavirus Death Confirmed in Washington. State Health Officials Declare Emergency.” The Olympian, February 29, 2020. https://www.theolympian.com/news/state/washington/article240761641.html.
- Bernstein, Lenny, Lena H. Sun, Josh Dawsey, and Jay Greene. “Coronavirus Is Spreading through Communities on the West Coast.” Washington Post, February 29, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/a-second-case-of-coronavirus-found-through-spread-in-california/2020/02/28/ae53c93a-5a77-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html.
- Creswell, Julie. “‘Where Do I Find Your Hand Sanitizer?’ Sorry, We Have None.” The New York Times, February 29, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/business/coronavirus-hand-sanitizer.html.
* Timeline summaries at the top of the page come from a variety of sources:, including The American Journal of Managed Care COVID-19 Timeline (https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-timeline-of-covid19-developments-in-2020), the Just Security Group at the NYU School of Law (https://www.justsecurity.org/69650/timeline-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-and-u-s-response/), the “10 Things,” daily entries from The Week (theweek.com), as well as a variety of newspapers and television programs.