China shut down Wuhan (population 10 million) on January 23, 2020. After that, there were no excuses for any authorities on Earth. Trump continued denying and downplaying the problem for seven weeks.
The way epidemics spread, and the likelihood that they will occur is well known. Before Trump took office, his people were required by law hear about it as a national security threat:
The Hill – March 17, 202 - “The Obama administration walked incoming Trump administration officials through a hypothetical scenario in which a pandemic worse than the 1918 Spanish flu shut down cities like Seoul and London in early 2017, Politico reported
“During the briefing, Trump administration officials were told such a pandemic would likely lead to circumstances such as shortages of ventilators and that a coordinated national response would be “paramount,” according to documents obtained by the publication.”