The Trump administration had fired the United States pandemic response teams in 2018 to cut costs.

The letter by Gerry Connolly and Ami Bera to the National Security Advisor John Bolton and the 2019 budget as published on CDC support the claim.

The letter by Gerry Connolly and Ami Bera to the National Security Advisor John Bolton and the 2019 budget as published on CDC support the claim.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, the data of budget states that the funding for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases was $575,704 in 2017, $568,308 - 2018 and in 2019 it was $508,328.

As per the letter on the Gerry Connolly website, Representatives Gerry Connolly and Ami Bera members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote a letter to National Security Advisor John Bolton ask the Trump administration to rethink on global health security. They also added that Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer, a top official responsible for global health security at the National Security Council was replaced at the peak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Further, the letter added that the administration is reducing the investment on pandemic threats and that some of the most respected leaders of their country are forced to leave their position.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.