Trump Golfed and Held Rallies As COVID-19 Spread in the United States

Source:  USA Today - Fact Check -  Written by Adrienne Dunn  -  Updated at 1:21 pm EDT on 18 April 2020

"Fact Check:  Trump Did Host Rallies, Play Golf As COVID-19 Outbreak Ramped Up

The claim:  Trump held rallies, golfed throughout the start of the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak

   As the novel corona virus has spread in the United States, the Trump administration has faced criticism about the scope and speed of it's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  There have been more than 30,000 American deaths so far as some states scramble to accommodate taxed hospital systems.
   In late March, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said the government may have been too distracted by impeachment hearings to focus on a response to the novel coronavirus.  McConnell's comments were disputed, including in a response from President Donald Trump in which he said he wouldn't have handled the novel coronavirus any better without impeachment.
   On social media, users began sharing a list of dates that purported to show all of the times Trump went golfing or held rallies after being warned about the pandemic.  The post implies that if Trump had time for leisure and campaign activities, then the administration should have had time to address COVID-19.  The list of dates was shared on other social media platforms and comments from posters used the dates to refute McConnell's claim about impeachment distraction.
   -  The Timeline  -
   Trump was impeached on December 19, 2019.  The trial ended on February 5, 2020, when the Senate acquitted him.
   On 8 January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its first alert advising U.S. clinicians to watch for patients with respiratory symptoms and a travel history to Wuhan, China.  It's unclear exactly when the president was first notified about the potential of a pandemic.
 * [On January 18, a memo was sent to the White House by HHS stating that there was a high possibility for a pandemic from this viral pneumonia; it was sent again with a more urgent heading on January 28.] *
   On 20 January, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported as appearing in the U.S., in Washington state.
   On 22 January, when CNBC asked him if there were any concerns about the virus spreading in the U.S., Trump said, "We have it totally under control.  It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control.  It's going to be just fine."
   On 31 January, Trump implemented China travel restrictions, a move he often points to when defending his administration's actions to address the pandemic.  That day, the CDC reported 7 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S.  [Over the next 30 days, more than 40,000 people arrived in the US from China - since US nationals, their families, people with work visas, diplomats and their families, students, etc were not barred from traveling to and from China.]
   By 4 February, there were 11 confirmed cases in the U.S.
   By 25 February, CDC official Nancy Messonnier warned that a COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S. was inevitable.
   On 28 February, at a Charleston, South Carolina political rally, Trump called the novel coronavirus the Democrats' "new hoax."  That day, there were 59 confirmed cases, and 2 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) [which had/has been tracking the virus since 31 December 2019 and issuing daily reports to all member nations - including the US].  There were 4,691 cases of the virus around the globe.
   Throughout February and early March, Trump insisted the U.S. had COVID-19 under control and that Americans should stay calm.  At a televised visit to the CDC on March 6, Trump said the novel coronavirus "came out of nowhere."

   During this time, Trump played golf on January 18 and 19, February 1 and 15, and March 7 and 8, according to the Trump Golf Count site.
   He hosted political rallies on January 9 (Toledo, Ohio); January 14 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); January 28 (Wildwood, New Jersey); and January 30 (Des Moines, Iowa); as well as February 10 (Manchester, New Hampshire); February 19 (Phoenix, Arizona); February 20 (Colorado Springs, Colorado); February 21 (Las Vegas, Nevada), and February 28 (Charleston, South Carolina).

   On March 11, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic.  Additional European travel bans were implemented on the same day, but restrictions for the United Kingdom didn't come until two days later, after people re-entered the U.S. from Britain and Ireland.
   On March 16, the White House released social distancing guidelines to  limit gatherings of no more than 10 people.
   On March 17, Trump changed from his previous statements that the virus would not severely impact the U.S. and said, "This is a pandemic.  ... I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."

Our claim ruling:  TRUE
   The information in this post has been rated true because Trump did host rallies and play golf on the listed dates in the early stages of the COVID-19 spread.

Our fact-check sources:
President Trump's Golf Outings
CDC COVID-19 alerts
Trump rallies 2020 campaign
Remarks by President Trump at Signing of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020
The New York Times : He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus
NPR : A Timeline Of Coronavirus Comments From President Trump And WHO
New England Journal of Medicine
What the president said he did on the virus - and what he actually did