On February 28, 2020, Trump claimed at a South Carolina rally that COVID-19 was being politicized by Democrats, it being their “new hoax.” On that day, the US had 63 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Now the Democrats are politicizing the coranavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They’re politicizing it. We did one of the great jobs, you see. How’s President Trump doing, they go, ‘oh not good, not good.’ They have no clue. They don’t have any clue… This is their new hoax.

Trump addressed his handling of the virus during the rally, and had made mention of it during his State of the Union address earlier in the month. His claim of a hoax was referring to criticisms about his administration’s handling of the virus rather than the virus itself.

About two months later, Trump later claimed that he said no such thing, and clarified that it was “Do Nothing Democrats” and the “Mainstream Media” that was the hoax.

On the day of his tweet, the United States had 960,651 confirmed cases and suffered 54,256 deaths.

Trump similarly spent the early months of the pandemic continually dismissing concerns about COVID-19.

Worldometer – Coronavirus, United States
NBC News – Trump calls coronavirus Democrats’ ‘new hoax’