This is murder. https://apnews.com/090600c299a8cf07f5b44d92534856bc

A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.

Now, 3 months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained just as numbers of patients needing critical care is surging. Some state and local officials report receiving broken ventilators and decade-old dry-rotted masks. “We basically wasted two months,” Kathleen Sebelius.

As early as mid-January, U.S. officials could see that hospitals in China’s Hubei province were overwhelmed with infected patients, with many left dependent on ventilator machines to breathe. Italy soon followed, with hospitals scrambling for doctors, beds and equipment.

The notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile,” Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, said at a White House briefing Thursday. “It’s not supposed to be state stockpiles that they then use.”

States do not have the purchasing power of the federal government. They do not have the ability to run a deficit like the federal government. They do not have the logistical power of the federal government,” said Sebelius.

Governors are bidding against federal agencies & each other for supplies, driving up prices. “You now literally will have a company call you up and say, ‘Well, California just outbid you,’” Cuomo said. “It’s like being on eBay with 50 other states, bidding on a ventilator.”

For nearly a month, Trump rebuffed calls from Cuomo and others to use his authority under the Defense Production Act to order companies to increase production of ventilators and personal protective equipment. He suggested the private sector was acting sufficiently on its own.

More than 3 months after China revealed cases, Trump finally said last week he will order companies to ramp up production of critical supplies. By then, confirmed cases within the US had surged to the highest in the world: more than 300,000 and deaths have topped 8,400.

Trump spent January & February playing down the threat, deriding warnings of pandemic reaching the U.S. as a hoax by Democrats. As WHO declared a public health emergency on Jan. 30, Trump told Americans virus was “very well under control” and he predicted “a very good ending.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Feb. 7 that the government had airlifted nearly 18 tons of respirator masks, surgical masks, gowns and other medical supplies to China.

On Feb. 25, federal health experts at the CDC warned that the virus was spreading quickly in the U.S. and predicted disruptions to daily life could be major. Unfazed, HHS Secretary Alex Azar told lawmakers on Feb. 27 that “the immediate risk to the American public remains low.”

During crucial early weeks when U.S. could have tracked spread of disease & containing it, hardly anyone was being tested after a series of federal blunders led to a shortage of tests & capacity. Without data showing how widespread the disease was, government failed to prepare.

By mid March, hospitals in NYC, Seattle & New Orleans reported surges. Doctors & nurses were alarmed at dwindling supplies of equipment. Trump accused Democratic governors of exaggerating & derided critics as complainers & snakes. “I want them to be appreciative,” he said on 3/27

Trump on 3/26 claimed he inherited “empty shelf” from Obama administration, saying “we’re really filling it up, & we fill it up rapidly.” Federal purchasing records,however, show Trump administration delayed ordering additional supplies until virus had taken root & was spreading.

On March 14, Trump declared the outbreak a national emergency., 6 weeks after WHO’s action. By then, thousands of U.S. schools had closed, the National Basketball Association had put its season on temporary hiatus and there were 1,700 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country.

Dr. Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, testified before Congress last month that the country would need roughly 3.5 billion N-95 respirators to get through the pandemic, but the national supply chain then had just about 1% of that amount.

Trump suggested Americans without access to factory-produced masks could cover faces with scarves.
“A scarf is highly recommended by the professionals. And I think, in a certain way, depending on the fabric — I think, in a certain way, a scarf is better. It’s actually better.”