‘Trump death clock’ in New York’s Times Square counts coronavirus fatalities blamed on president’s inaction

Epidemiologists say 60% of US Covid-19 deaths would have been avoided if White House had acted one week earlier

A billboard in New York City’s Times Square has begun showing a "Trump Death Clock" tallying coronavirus deaths that its creator says can be attributed to the president's inaction.

The digital counter was installed last week by filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, who said he wanted to make clear to the Americans the consequences of Donald Trump’s policies.

The Trump Death Clock, which is also running on an accompanying website, uses an estimation that 60 per cent that American coronavirus deaths could have been avoided due to White House inaction in February.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading US infectious diseases expert, has admitted lives could have been saved if the government had intervened sooner to stem the outbreak. Some epidemiologists have estimated that 60 per cent of American deaths could have been avoided if the White House had acted just one week earlier.

Mr Jarecki wrote in The Washington Post that he set up the death clock to "let the numbers speak for themselves".

He said: "This suffering cannot be forgotten. As of today, tens of thousands of Americans have lost their lives as a consequence of the administration’s failure to act sooner."

He added: “This pandemic is ongoing, and the lives already unnecessarily lost demand we seek more responsible crisis leadership.

“Just as the names of fallen soldiers are etched on memorials to remind us of the cost of war, quantifying the lives lost to the president’s delayed coronavirus response would serve a vital public function.”

Mr Jarecki maintains that Mr Trump did not act to manage the Covid-19 crisis until 16 March, after warnings in January.

“Reports show that as early as January, the president was advised by both his own experts and the intelligence services of the need for urgent mitigation measures against the spread of the virus,” wrote Mr Jarecki last week. ​

The death clock comes alongside the nearby National Debt Clock, which displays US borrowing to show how the US is “living beyond its means”.

On Tuesday, the new counter displayed almost 50,000 deaths that were allegedly due to Mr Trump’s mismanagement.

That comes as the total American death toll from the virus passed 80,000 on Monday.