Us coronavirus cases pass 500 as defiant trump praises response

It appears that you're referring to a news article from February 2020. Here's a summary:

On February 29, 2020, the United States reported over 500 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This marked a significant milestone in the country's response to the pandemic.

At the time, President Donald Trump praised the response to the outbreak, saying that the country was "doing very well" and that the number of cases was "going down." However, this statement was later disputed by health experts and critics, who argued that the administration's response was slow and inadequate.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the outbreak a global pandemic on January 30, 2020, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the United States on January 21, 2020.

As the number of cases continued to rise, the Trump administration faced criticism for its handling of the crisis, including its slow response to testing and contact tracing, as well as its initial reluctance to impose travel restrictions and other measures to slow the spread of the virus.

Despite the growing number of cases, Trump remained optimistic, saying that the country would "get through this" and that the economy would "come back strong." However, his comments were met with skepticism by many experts and critics, who argued that the administration's response was inadequate and that the country was not doing enough to mitigate the spread of the virus.

In the end, the US response to the pandemic was widely criticized, and the country suffered significant economic and human tolls as a result of the outbreak.