Woodrow Wilson and Donald Trump: Two Presidents, two pandemics and two lies

After US President Donald Trump’s announcement on Friday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, many questions have been raised about the information White House has been issuing about the health of America’s top leader.

The Trump administration initially said he had mild symptoms.

According to the New York Times, in a statement, the president’s physician said Trump, who is 74, was “well” but did not say whether he was experiencing symptoms. He said the president would stay isolated in the White House for now.

Since early days of the pandemic, Donald Trump has been downplaying the pandemic despite the strong global public health consensus.

He even mocked Democratic challenger Joe Biden for months for his cautious approach to the coronavirus.

And this is not the first time when an American President downplayed a pandemic.

In 1918 US President Woodrow Wilson downplayed the influenza pandemic that killed an estimated 50 to 100 million people worldwide—including some 675,000 Americans—in just 15 months. But Wilson’s White House largely ignored the global health crisis.

Some historians call Wilson the worst US president in terms of handling a disaster.

Later Wilson got violently sick by the disease and news of Wilson's illness was initially hidden from the public.

According to a report by the Washington Post, in private, the president acknowledged the threat posed by the virus, which struck a number of people in his inner circle, including his personal secretary, his oldest daughter and multiple Secret Service members. Even the White House sheep came down with the flu.

But Wilson never publicly acknowledged the disease wreaking havoc on the world.

Meanwhile, Trump on Saturday said that he was "feeling well" after being hospitalised following his positive diagnosis of coronavirus. He also thanked the "amazing" medical staff at Walter Reed hospital for their assistance.

(With inputs from agencies)