It's a very weird impulse to react to everything that's happening with a reflexive defense of Donald Trump personally. Is there any real argument that this is going well, or in any comparable to another crisis in our lifetimes?
The reality with this virus is that the federal government probably under-reacted for high-risk areas like New York and San Francisco, and probably over-reacted for places like Utah, Kansas and North Carolina where the infection rate is extremely low.
Given that the virus spreads from person to person without their even knowing (since they don't show symptoms) the only way to prevent the spread is social distancing, and the government has been very aggressive about achieving that. In the absence of an approved drug, the treatment protocol is essentially the same as it would be for pneumonia or other respiratory distress. There need to be enough hospital beds and respirators to handle cases that require intensive care. New York and California are at risk of reaching their hospital capacity, so that's the problem that needs to be addressed most urgently. It looks like with the hospital ship and the Army Corps of Engineers building makeshift hospital capacity, at least some of that will be addressed.
New York is an absolute nightmare during a pandemic, not just because of people's dependence on taxis, subways and elevators, but because these large apartment buildings with central air are almost tantamount to the Princess cruise ships for spreading the virus. There's just no such thing as social distancing in Manhattan. I expect that New York alone will account for the majority of cases and deaths when the dust settles.
Whether this administration does well from here will depend on whether it can help mitigate the short and long-term economic consequences, which appear to me to be worse than the health crisis itself.
FWIW, The Hill was reporting this morning that Trump's approval rating has gone up 10 points in the last week, from 45% to 55%.
