he shut it all down.

Posted on: February 2, 2024 at 10:18:02 CT

With cases rising and the stock market plummeting, the president was eventually convinced by advisors and key members of the Coronavirus Task Force that the dangers posed by COVID‐19 required more urgent action, and he agreed to support an unprecedented 15‐day national shutdown of nonessential activity to slow the spread (McGraw & Oprysko, 2020; White House, 2020g). In a high‐stakes 15 March Oval Office meeting, Fauci and Birx, in the face of skepticism from Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, successfully made the case that a shutdown was necessary to flatten the curve (Woodward, 2021, p. 280–281). Trump, sobered by worst‐case scenario death projections (McGraw & Oprysko, 2020), accepted Fauci and Birx's public health framing that a shutdown was needed to prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed and save lives (White House, 2020h). Trump was then persuaded to extend the shutdown for an additional 30 days.