Trump’s COVID-19 press conference just handed us a meme format

Trump’s press conference declaring a nationwide state of emergency did little to quell the panic surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, but at least we got a decent meme out of it. 

During the conference on Friday, the president shook hands with a number of high-ranking officials from various corporations — doing the exact opposite of the social distancing we’re all supposed to be practicing  — and referred to the American people as “consumers.” He also announced a partnership with Google, which pledged to build a site to help Americans identify symptoms of COVID-19, the official term for the disease caused by the virus, and direct them to the nearest testing site. 

They demonstrated how the site would work on a handy flow chart. 

But if there’s anything to take away from the internet, it’s that holding up paper makes for prime meme material. The kind folks at Full Frontal made it even easier, posting a blank version of the meme format. 

It took off. 

Hard Drive took a darker turn. 

The image — and the crisis overall — also drew comparisons to HBO’s Chernobyl, a dramatized retelling of the Soviet Union’s attempted cover-up of the nuclear disaster. 

At least you can meme your way through the pandemic. Getting tested and treated, though, is still complicated.