Trump reportedly dismissed January coronavirus warnings from Health Secretary Alex Azar as 'alarmist'

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

• President Donald Trump dismissed warnings from Health Secretary Alex Azar about the threat posed by the coronavirus in January as "alarmist," reported The Washington Post Saturday. 
• Azar was reportedly concerned that the president was not taking his warnings seriously enough, but officials told the Post Azar could've stressed the urgency of the problem more strongly. 
• A White House spokesman dismissed the report as "palace intrigue." 
• In the early weeks of the outbreak, Trump dismissed the coronavirus as no worse than the common flu, described it as a "hoax," and predicted the problem would pass in a matter of weeks. 
• The US now has more coronavirus infections than anywhere else in the world. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump dismissed as "alarmist" warnings back in January from Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about the threat posed by the novel coronavirus, reported The Washington Post Saturday. 

In an investigation into the series of wasted opportunities in government agencies and the Trump administration to mitigate the impact of the outbreak, the Post reported that Azar called Trump back on January 18 while the president was staying at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to brief him about the disease. 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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