That’s a very high death rate, but it’s probably not accurate. Why? Because the Trump administration simply does not have a good picture of how widespread the virus is. There could be hundreds of thousands more cases out there, which would lower the rate, but who knows?

The problem is the shockingly low amount of testing in the US: As of yesterday, the CDC and local public health agencies had tested only somewhere between 6,000 and 8,500 people. South Korea, which announced its first coronavirus case on the same day as the US — Jan. 21 — had tested more than 189,000 people as of Sunday. Since they are testing about 10,000 people a day, that number is probably above 200,000 now.

This isn’t just a disgraceful embarrassment; it’s a huge risk to US residents.

VP Mike Pence, the public face of the government’s response, keeps saying that “millions” of tests are being sent out by private companies to hospitals and private labs, and that everyone whose doctor wants them to be tested because they have symptoms can get a test. But that simply isn’t true. Every news organization has interviewed hospital officials, doctors, and others who are frustrated at their inability to get their hands on tests.

And of course, in the 51 days since the first case was confirmed, the administration still has not figured out how to find out from those private entities how many people they have tested and what the results are.

Don’t you feel reassured?

Critics say Trump simply wasn’t nimble and decisive enough to handle a major public health crisis, obsessed instead with downplaying the threat because he thought the virus would make him look bad.

So sure, keep bragging that you restricted some people from China after three major US airlines stopped flights to and from there on their own. And keep bragging that you’re an expert on the virus because one of your uncles taught at MIT. (I know it seems like I’m making up some of this stuff, but yes, he really made that association. It’s the Time of Trump and just about everything is rather unbelievable.)

Next I expect him to take over the development of a vaccine so that he can make the greatest vaccine the world has ever known and people can’t believe it and they all say to him you are the greatest we’ve never seen anything like this it’s never been done before and Obama stunk.

For your amusement/despair, here are some of his recent greatest hits:

“By April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.” (Um, no, it won’t. Experts hope it will ease like other viruses, but they really don’t know.)

“The Obama Administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be detrimental to what we’re doing.” (Not true.)

“We’re going very substantially down, not up.” (Not true.) “We have it so well under control. I mean, we really have done a very good job.” (Keep telling yourself that, bucko.)

“If, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by sitting around, and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.” (Infecting your co-workers might not be a good career move.)

“As of right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test [can have one], (still not true) that’s the thing, and the tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect — the transcription was perfect.” (Good grief. That again?)

“I took quick action on closing our borders.” (He didn’t close any borders. After American, Delta, and United airlines suspended flights between the US and China, he barred most foreign nationals who had recently visited China from entering the US.)

“Everybody said [about the travel restrictions], ‘It’s too early, it’s too soon,’ and good people, brilliant people, in many ways, doctors and lawyers and, frankly, a lot of people that work on this stuff almost exclusively. And they said, ‘Don’t do it.’ ” (No, they didn’t.)

“They would like to have the people come off [the Grand Princess cruise ship, off the coast of California]. I would like to have the people stay [on board]. Because I like the numbers being where they are.” (Yes, it has been shown that artificially suppressing the number of infected people so you don’t look bad is the single most effective action against the virus.)

***
Unfortunately, it’s not just Trump. Theatrical congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida wore a gas mask on the floor of the House during a debate about virus funding to mock the whole crisis. He thought it was hilarious — until one of his constituents died from the illness.

A woman in North Carolina told an NBC reporter last week that she does not believe that coronavirus exists or that anybody has died from it because it’s just Democrats making the whole thing up. What’s scary is that people like her vote…

Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the latter of whom Trump named last week as the next White House chief of staff, both said in statements that the tests showed no infection after exposure to a coronavirus carrier at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference last month in suburban Washington.

The two lawmakers also said they were exhibiting no symptoms of respiratory illness, raising questions of why they were tested at all.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that health-care providers prioritize tests for hospitalized patients who are exhibiting coronavirus symptoms, elderly and medically fragile individuals, along with others who have shown signs of illness after contact with a known or suspected coronavirus patient.

Gaetz, 37, and Meadows, 60, are not known to belong to any groups at high risk for infection. Spokesmen for the two lawmakers declined to comment beyond their public statements confirming the negative test results and their decision to self-quarantine as a precaution.