“the Democrats, while still dismissing it”
Schumer publicly called for action on January 26, Biden on January 27, and Warren in January 28. Biden and Warren were quite specific on things that needed to be done. Trump continued to dismiss the importance of the pandemic until March 15, preventing any testing until late February, and lying about what US intelligence agencies had discovered. Two Republicans in the US Senate had that information as well and engaged in insider trading based on a briefing from the Trump Administration. Oh, and Trump continued to praise Xi Jinping even as late as March 24.