To which quote are you referring?

“ When people play off stereotypes, it distracts from the real risks and can lead to misperception and misinformation about the source of the virus. We are grateful to stand with the mayor, city elected officials and community leaders to ensure we eliminate any stigma with the virus, continue public outreach efforts, and educate the public of the real risks,” Chen said.

“While it is understandable for some New Yorkers to be concerned about the novel coronavirus situation, we cannot stand for racist and stigmatizing rhetoric, or for myths and half-truths about the virus. The best precaution you can take is to practice what you would during any flu season: Wash your hands, cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and please stay home if you’re feeling unwell. The Health Department is committed to separating the facts from fear, and we encourage all New Yorkers to do the same.”

This basically turned into “it’s just the flu, if you think it is more, you are playing into the racism rhetoric”.

Look, I don’t care which side of the country was right, but ignoring the mistakes we made feels like we are setting ourselves up for falling for the same traps.

We had no government warnings in the middle of February so perhaps the Asian community was feeling attacked? Someone in the government knew the real danger but most were never warned

A month later a Republican Congressman was actively downplaying the advice of the CDC.

March 15

“Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican, on Sunday encouraged healthy people to dine out at restaurants, contradicting public health advisories that strongly encouraged social distancing and discouraged Americans from attending mass gatherings.“