The U.S. government has been criticized for not doing enough to prepare for the novel coronavirus outbreak.

First, President Donald Trump attempted to place the blame on the Democrats, claiming that the coronavirus was the Democratic Party's new hoax.

Then he suggested it was just like regular flu. 

This was followed by an attempt to calm nerves, by saying: "We are going to take care of and have been taking care of the American public and the American economy." 

Trump has been accused of denying, downplaying and outright rejecting concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak. So, let's look at the facts.

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According to U.S. publication the Atlantic, the country remains "dangerously limited in its capacity to test people for the illness."

The report further states that as of Monday, just over 4,000 people had been tested nationwide. Comparing this with other countries on the same day, South Korea had tested more than 100,000 people with an average of 15,000 people each day. The UK has already tested almost 25,000 people. 

To make matters worse, many states have refused to release testing data and are only publishing confirmed cases. Test eligibility is also a major issue. In many states, public health departments refused to test people, unless they have been hospitalized or have traveled to China. 

But Trump seems to believe the current system is working rather well: "But as of right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test – that's the important thing. And the tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect; the transcription was perfect, right?" (The transcription of a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that set Trump's impeachment in motion.)

A lot of questions are also being asked over how authorities are handling confirmed patients.

During an interview with CGTN, Tom Panocha, one of the COVID-19 survivors said: "After my wife's testing results came back positive, they asked me to be tested. And they didn't ask me to do anything other than my normal activity so I continued to work. And then five days after I got tested, I was found to be positive." 

Last month, the White House gagged government health officials and scientists from speaking about the outbreak without the approval of Vice President Mike Pence. As cases continue to rise, Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders decided to cancel their election rallies on Tuesday but Trump still remains non-committal, days after refusing to back down.

"We'll have tremendous rallies and we're doing very well and we've done a fantastic job with respect to that subject on the virus," he added.

Given the situation, experts believe patients with possible symptoms are being left to fend for themselves. Also, they fear the virus is being allowed to fester and spread across the country as the Trump administration continues playing catch-up.