President Trump claims that he wasn’t late in taking action about the pandemic, he argues that he was early, by declaring a travel ban on China on January 31st, to take effect on February 2nd. Trump’s claims are in dispute and there have been many reports of early warnings that the White House didn’t respond to, and recommendations of stronger measures that Trump should have ordered earlier.

Among those sounding an early alarm about the coronavirus threat are the world’s editorial cartoonists. Here is a batch of cartoons from our cartoon first-responders who were among the first to draw about the threat.

This quote is from our conservative cartoonist, Rick McKee,

My first coronavirus cartoon is dated January 31, and I remember thinking at the time, “I wonder if enough people know about this to get the reference?” I was following the story very closely while the virus was still limited to China and hearing stories about how they were quarantining residents by welding them in their homes, monitoring them with drones and building emergency hospitals in 10 days. I knew this was not a normal virus and if it came to the US, things would get bad very quickly. My son lives in Los Angeles and I remember the first documented case of the COVID-19 virus was in L.A. on January 23 at LAX. I texted him that day to alert him to start preparing for the possibility of a city-wide lockdown.  Rick McKee

And here’s Rick’s cartoon …

Rick McKee, Georgia, 1/31/20

 

Bart van Leeuwen, The Netherlands, 1/22/20

Bart van Leeuwen, The Netherlands, 1/30/20

Dave Fitzsimmons, Arizona, 1/27/20

Dave Granlund, Minnesota, 1/21/20

Vladimir Kazanevsky, Ukraine, 1/27/20

Michael Kountouris, Greece, 1/29/20

Stephane Peray, Thailand, 2/22/20

Tayo Fatunla, Nigeria, 1/24/20

Monte Wolverton, Washington, 1/27/20

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Don’t miss my other Coronavirus posts:
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