The Daily Beast reports:

President Donald Trump’s Oval Office address Wednesday evening was supposed to calm concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. Instead, it sparked panic and confusion. Not just among the markets, U.S. travelers, and international leaders but within his own administration, as well.

Two officials in the U.S. State Department told The Daily Beast that foreign service officers and diplomats were unprepared for the president’s announcement and spent the early hours of Thursday scrambling to figure out how their work and travel would be impacted in the short term.

“It is just total chaos,” said one official currently abroad, adding that they did not know if they would have to return to the U.S. immediately or if they would need to quarantine for two weeks upon arriving. Diplomats and other U.S. staff overseas did not know if they’d be able to even visit their families back in the States, and frantically searched for answers that weren’t immediately available from Foggy Bottom or the West Wing.

In his Oval Office address Wednesday night, President Trump announced that he was banning travel from Europe to the U.S. but did not specify the details of how that plan would be rolled out and if Americans could still travel to the region. He also did not give European officials a heads up, saying the situation required him to move with haste.

The result was confusion. Another U.S. official said they received calls from their European counterparts asking for clarification on exactly what the president was restricting in regard to travel to and from European countries. As of Thursday night, U.S. officials abroad said they were still unclear exactly how Trump’s proclamation would be implemented in real-time. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had not updated embassies with any guidance or notes on preventative measures.

“I’m used to it with this administration that we wouldn’t know anything until the morning after,” another U.S. official said. “But now basically a full work day later? That’s surprising even for these times.”

That lack of clarity extended to within the walls of the White House. Shortly after his speech concluded on Wednesday, White House aides and administration officials were already scrambling to walk back, clarify, or straight-up correct key portions of his high-stakes Oval Office address, furiously communicating with one another and inquisitive media outlets trying to figure out what had just happened. [Continue reading…]