[Goose]

I suspect he was told by the people that advise him that we were OK, because that is probably what they believed.

This WaPo article has a different take on it: people in the administration were alarmed but couldn't get him to listen.
Wapo article Some excerpts:

"Azar couldn’t get through to Trump to speak with him about the virus until Jan. 18, according to two senior administration officials. When he reached Trump by phone, the president interjected to ask about vaping and when flavored vaping products would be back on the market, the senior administration officials said."

"Inside the White House, Trump’s advisers struggled to get him to take the virus seriously, according to multiple officials with knowledge of meetings among those advisers and with the president."

"On Jan. 27, White House aides huddled with then-acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney in his office, trying to get senior officials to pay more attention to the virus . . . Mulvaney then began convening more regular meetings. In early briefings, however, officials said Trump was dismissive because he did not believe that the virus had spread widely throughout the United States."

It has got to be surreal working for this President. He doesn't read the briefing materials, apparently. He is unfamiliar with concepts like ingesting bleach is probably going to kill you. He recommends drugs because "I have a good feeling about this". He also has a lot of "yes men" surrounding him. If you are an individual who had become informed about the possible dangers to the US from COVID-19, how do you convince him to act? Not an easy task. The "yes men" will probably tell him that everything is going to be ok and don't listen to these Cassandras. Things are not helped by the Cassandras being political appointees with no real credentials of their own. However, Azar is still employed. He didn't feel strongly enough in February to make such an issue of it that POTUS couldn't ignore it. Anybody who says "we tried, but he didn't listen" and is still there is just being self-serving. They may have been concerned, but they weren't concerned enough to go to the mat for their position. Mattis knew what to do. Even the much maligned John Bolton knew what he had to do.

[Goose]

I suspect he was told by the people that advise him that we were OK, because that is probably what they believed.

This WaPo article has a different take on it: people in the administration were alarmed but couldn't get him to listen.
Wapo article Some excerpts:

"Azar couldn’t get through to Trump to speak with him about the virus until Jan. 18, according to two senior administration officials. When he reached Trump by phone, the president interjected to ask about vaping and when flavored vaping products would be back on the market, the senior administration officials said."

"Inside the White House, Trump’s advisers struggled to get him to take the virus seriously, according to multiple officials with knowledge of meetings among those advisers and with the president."

"On Jan. 27, White House aides huddled with then-acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney in his office, trying to get senior officials to pay more attention to the virus . . . Mulvaney then began convening more regular meetings. In early briefings, however, officials said Trump was dismissive because he did not believe that the virus had spread widely throughout the United States."

It has got to be surreal working for this President. He doesn't read the briefing materials, apparently. He is unfamiliar with concepts like ingesting bleach is probably going to kill you. He recommends drugs because "I have a good feeling about this". He also has a lot of "yes men" surrounding him. If you are an individual who had become informed about the possible dangers to the US from COVID-19, how do you convince him to act? Not an easy task. The "yes men" will probably tell him that everything is going to be ok and don't listen to these Cassandras. Things are not helped by the Cassandras being political appointees with no real credentials of their own. However, Azar is still employed. He didn't feel strongly enough in February to make such an issue of it that POTUS couldn't ignore it. Anybody who says "we tried, but he didn't listen" and is still there is just being self-serving. They may have been concerned, but they weren't concerned enough to go to the mat for their position. Mattis knew what to do. Even the much maligned John Bolton knew what he had to do.