Donald Trump’s big promises on COVID-19 often fall short

President Donald Trump speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, Friday, March 20, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

THE RESULT: It quickly became clear that the seamless online network Trump described will not be available immediately. Verily, a subsidiary of Google, issued a statement clarifying that its website was in the early stages of development and initially would serve just the San Francisco area.

Google followed up with a statement that it would launch a national website to provide “education, prevention, and local resources nationwide” on COVID-19. A Google spokesman said Thursday the company was still working to “roll out a website later this week.”

The White House plan has now changed to focus on community-based testing centers that would be staffed by state and federal emergency personnel.

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THE PROMISE: On Thursday, Trump offered an upbeat promotion of therapeutic drugs in early testing that he said could be “a game-changer” in treating those suffering. Trump said a common malaria drug called chloroquine had shown “very encouraging early results” against coronavirus. “We’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately,” he said.

THE RESULTS: Minutes later, from the same podium, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn tamped down Trump’s enthusiasm. The drug wasn’t approved for treatment of the coronavirus. His agency would be taking a closer look to see if it could benefit those patients.

“We want to do that in the setting of a clinical trial — a large, pragmatic clinical trial — to actually gather that information and answer the question that needs to be asked and answered,” he said.

That process takes months and might or might not yield any results. The FDA later issued a statement further clarifying that there are “no FDA-approved therapeutics or drugs to treat, cure or prevent COVID-19.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also noted that data needs to be collected and analyzed to prove that it is effective and safe against the coronavirus. “There’s no magic drug out there,” he said.

Trump defended his optimism about the drug on Friday, saying it might or might not work, but said there was no reason not to try it.

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THE PROMISE: Trump said last week he would suspend entry into the United States by foreign nationals who had been to Europe during the past 14 days. “Citizens, permanent residents and our families — and even families returning from Europe — will be subject to extra screening” and self-isolation for 14 days.

THE RESULT: The administration’s ban went into effect over the weekend for Europe and then on Monday for Britain and Ireland. But at the 13 airports where American citizens and green card holders returning from overseas were routed, the result initially was hours-long delays and throngs of travelers crammed together in tight spaces, the opposite of social distancing.

It’s not clear yet whether any of those people had the illness or passed it on while they were trapped waiting for screening and clearance. It’s also unclear whether anyone is adhering to the self-quarantine, because there is no way to track it.

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THE PROMISE: Trump said on Wednesday that he invoked the Defense Production Act, a 70-year-old authority to give the government more power to steer private companies to produce equipment, such as masks, ventilators and other supplies, needed to combat the virus.

THE RESULTS: By the end of Friday, it was unclear if he had actually used the act to trigger production of the medical equipment.

On Thursday, he tweeted that he had signed the act “should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future. … Hopefully there will be no need.” On Friday, he said he had put the Defense Production Act “in gear” but then added “you know, so far, we haven’t had to” use it because companies are volunteering.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he implored Trump during a phone call earlier Friday to use the Korean War-era act immediately to order the manufacture of ventilators and other critically needed medical equipment. The president told Schumer he would, then could be heard on the telephone seeming to make the order. He yelled to someone in his office to do it now, said Schumer’s spokesman, Justin Goodman.

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Republished with permission from the Associated Press.