The Trump Administration has been sending mixed messages about the coronavirus, and the inconsistency has White House officials increasingly frustrated. Even worse, U.S. citizens are not receiving the information they need to properly prepare for and behave during a potential outbreak. As of Sunday, nearly 108,000 have been infected worldwide.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly downplayed the effects and spread of the novel coronavirus and has questioned the authority of medical experts. Last month, the president claimed the number of cases in the U.S. would soon reach zero, but the country has now seen 19 deaths from the virus. He has also claimed that the virus would be gone by April despite global numbers increasing rapidly.

Trump surrogates are also sewing confusion. Kellyanne Conway told reporters on Friday that the virus "is being contained" and that the administration is "ramping up production" of tests. Also on Friday, top economic advisor to the president Larry Kudlow said that the virus "looks relatively contained" and that "the vast majority of Americans are not at risk for this virus."

Meanwhile, the governors of five states have declared a state of emergency because of the spread of the virus with 105 cases in New York alone. As of Friday, 28 states in all have confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Trump's former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb warned in a tweet that "we may be entering a period of accelerating cases. The country could look very different over next two weeks."

Trump has consistently shown greater concern for the public perception of the outbreak rather than those Americans being infected themselves. He showed this once again on Friday when he said he would prefer to abandon potentially ill people rather than allow them onto American soil. The reason he cited was not wanting to see the official count go up.

Trump told reporters at a press conference at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last Friday that, if it were up to him, he would rather leave the Grand Princess and her nearly 4,000 passengers floating off California's coast "because I like the [coronavirus] numbers being where they are." At least 21 passengers have the coronavirus so far.

"I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn't our fault," Trump said. "I'd rather have them stay on, personally."

Both Vice President Mike Pence and health officials have said that a quick removal and quarantine of the passengers on board the Grand Princess is the best way to cope with the spread.

"Do I want to bring all those people off? People would like me to do it," Trump admitted.

Despite the President's wishes, the Grand Princess will dock in Oakland on Monday, and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.has said that any passengers requiring urgent care will be taken to hospitals in the state and that any Californians on board not requiring treatment will be taken to state facilities for testing and quarantine.

Those passengers not in need of immediate care who aren't Californians will be the federal government's responsibility. It's not yet clear how the administration plans to deal with these potentially contagious passengers. The 1,100 person crew will remain on board until a set quarantine period ends. That timeline has also not been established.

"We have a perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan at the White House for our attack on CoronaVirus... V.P. is doing a great job. The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to make us look bad. Sad!" Trump tweeted on Sunday.

One potential cause for the inconsistency in messaging could have to do with the nature of working under Trump. Politico interviewed 13 current and former officials to get a picture of the situation in the White House. It seems as though officials would rather keep bad news from the President than face his anger.

"Trump's created an atmosphere where the judgment of his staff is that he shouldn't need to know these things," one adviser said. He added that Trump aids had discouraged Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar from informing the president about the coronavirus back in January.

"It's a clearly difficult situation when the top wants to hear certain answers," said one former official who was responsible for briefing the White House. "That can make it difficult for folks to express their true assessment - even the most experienced and independent minds."