March 12, 2020 "Information Clearing House" -  On Wednesday night, Donald Trump announced that he would restrict travel from Europe—excluding the United Kingdom—beginning on Friday, for the next 30 days. “Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing,” he said.

The president also attempted to reassure the country by saying the United States is “more prepared” to fight the pandemic than any other nation. “The virus will not have a chance against us,” he said.

Public health officials beg to differ. Our hospitals, experts say, are severely underprepared for the expected number of coronavirus cases. According to biologist Liz Specht, writing in STAT, the United States has about 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people, and if 10 percent of coronaviruses cases require hospitalization, beds will be at capacity by early- to mid-May. (And, given the lack of testing in the US, it’s not clear how many Americans have been infected in the first place.) On top of that, as my colleagues Will Peischel and Jessica Washington reported last week, in 2018 Trump cut most of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s funding for fighting pandemics. That same year, the head of the National Security Council’s global pandemic team left his post, followed shortly after by the entire team. The positions remain empty.