It was an election year. Trump really didn't want to do anything that would upset the economy, and he gambled all his chips on "ignore it until it goes away." Public officials were begging and pleading to take measures to get R under control from the very start of exponential growth in the US, but they were not able to break through the political stonewall. Conservatives will say & do anything to get you to forget how hard they went on the wrong side of history.

People came to their senses when the following level of urgency was reached: "if you don't lockdown NOW, in two doubling periods -- one week -- every hospital will have a parking lot full of people slowly dying for want of a respirator. Do you want that news story as your legacy?"