Right-wing media are now circulating a fraudulent argument to defend the Trump administration’s handling of novel coronavirus strain COVID-19, by suggesting there was six months of inaction by the Obama administration on the H1N1 flu, also commonly known as “swine flu,” back in 2009.

Essentially, the right-wing figures now propagating this idea are engaged in a bait-and-switch, in this case using bureaucratic terms of art that everyday people might not pick up on so easily. And even then, they have begun this entire attack with a lie.

On February 28, PJ Media posted an article claiming that after the H1N1 pandemic started in April 2009, “it wasn't until six months later, October, that then-President Obama declared a public health emergency on what was already a pandemic.” The post was picked up and spread further by The Gateway Pundit on February 29 and RedState on March 1. (The idea also spread to the even more fetid swamps of the right-wing online presence, with QAnon conspiracy theorist Dylan Wheeler tweeting about it.)

In fact, this is totally false. The Obama administration declared a public health emergency in April 2009. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated at the time that this was a “declaration of emergency preparedness,” explaining, “It’s like declaring one for a hurricane. It means we can release funds and take other measures. The hurricane may not actually hit.”

After the initial declaration of a public health emergency in April 2009, the official national emergency declaration came in October 2009. This also served a specific regulatory purpose by waiving certain federal requirements in order to allow hospitals and local governments to set up alternate treatment sites. And in the interim, the government had been working with researchers on developing a vaccine for the H1N1 strain and to coordinate its launch in the fall.

Now this faulty attack has gotten much bigger exposure, thanks to Sean Hannity — who also apparently tried to revise it slightly. On the March 2 edition of his radio show, Hannity insisted that President Donald Trump’s response to coronavirus has been far superior to the Obama administration’s handling of H1N1. Hannity briefly acknowledged the actual public health emergency declaration, but then placed his emphasis on former President Barack Obama seemingly waiting longer to declare a “national” emergency — at once trying to clean up the problem here, while moving the goalposts in order to keep the attack going.