He's arguing that the risk of panic was worse than the virus risk.
If I am bending over backwards, I'd say it's an argument that might be made in the context of hoarding.
However, Americans still hoarded but many acted as if the virus wasn't dangerous.
The damning thing is that Trump protected himself from the beginning. But he invited his supporters to several rallies and failed to suggest they should take precautions. That looks a lot like criminal negligence.
His defence to that will be that he didn't think the virus was widespread enough at that time to warrant safeguards. Statistically-speaking, cases started showing up in the US in mid-March.
Everything depends on timing.
| 
