I mean come on dude, which world were you living in the last 18 months?

Trump and the GOP have heavily pushed covid into the political sphere. The right wing has worked relentlessly to frame the pandemic in the most political frame possible.

To try to pull some kind of 'well its really all sides' or 'all politicians <whatever>' that is doing a disservice to the truth of history.

There's a major difference between 'not wanting to cause a panic' and the total lies and abdication that characterize the early messages out of the Trump admin - think circa Feb/March 2020.