FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on a news broadcast discussing the coronavirus spending bill on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City
(Photo : Reuters)

As of today, there have been 564 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States according to the online dashboard at John Hopkins University.

Each day, the numbers are growing as the people in quarantine facilities become positive with this spreading virus. Rooting from Wuhan, China which has now 80,735 confirmed cases; COVID-19 is now a global health crisis.

Affecting millions of people in the world economically as the global market plunge, government leaders of different countries are taking drastic measures to contain and prevent the spread of the virus.

As the cases of coronavirus surge in neighboring countries in Europe, the US administration takes steps to decrease the number of confirmed cases. The US government is now modifying its plan from 'containment' to 'mitigation' of the virus.

But how prepared is the United States in dealing with the slow but steadily increasing number of confirmed cases?

Trump just signed the $8.3 billion budget allotted to pay for the multifaceted response in tackling this deadly virus. These steps include finding the vaccines or potential treatments and providing tests for suspicious people who show the symptoms of the disease.

Trump is known for his unscientific response to issues like climate change. Recently, in one of his meetings Trump questioned why we can't use the flu vaccine for coronavirus. Experts have warned that Trump's prejudices against scientific facts might negatively influence the response to combat the spread of coronavirus.

In his recent tweet, Trump assured that the administration is doing its best to 'attack Coronavirus'. He also praised Vice President Mike Pence as he 'is doing a great job'. Pence is the authority in charge of the U.S. response toward coronavirus claiming that the Vice President has 'a certain talent for this'. Trump believes that the experience of Pence with health care policy makes him a good fit for the role.

Despite the administration's effort in reducing and covering the medical costs of testing for coronavirus especially for those who have no health insurance, some gaps still need to be filled.

As Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar confirms that the five cities were viable to test suspected cases of coronavirus, reports claimed that the tests are not working. 

Also, testing has been limited to people visited in China or come in contact with the person positive of COVID-19. The malfunction of tests limits the number of people that could have been tested.

The reality is in contradiction of the President's statement stating the virus was 'very much under control in the USA'. He also claims that the U.S is ready for anything including a massive outbreak of this deadly virus.

Coronavirus is a looming threat of a global pandemic. Experts say that misinformation about the spreading of the virus makes the situation much worse. 

Infecting over 100,000 people globally, with 3,015 deaths solely in China and 267 fatalities in other countries including the 22 confirmed deaths in the U.S., governments are trying to take unprecedented steps to combat this outbreak.