Tag: Trump pandemic response

Trump administration sent protective medical gear to China while he minimized the virus threat to US

CNN — Our doctors and nurses are in desperate need of masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect themselves from contracting the coronavirus while treating those who are ill. Some of them are trying to find it on eBay while others are pleading for help on social media.

The situation is so dire one New Jersey doctor described it as “sending medical professionals like lambs to the slaughterhouse.”

Concerns about a dwindling supply of PPE are not new. Back on February 7, the World Health Organization sounded alarm bells about “the limited stock of PPE,” noting demand was 100 times higher than normal for this equipment. Continue reading.

Experts converge on plans for easing coronavirus restrictions safely

Washington Post logoThe Trump administration’s national social distancing guidelines expire early this week. So what’s the plan?

If there’s one thing people agree on, even as they debate the government’s coronavirusresponse, it is this: We can’t do this forever.

The nationwide shutdowns, the home quarantines, hospital shortages, layoffs, deaths and infections. All seemingly without end. So what exactly is our next step?

Concerned about the nation’s halting, uncoordinated response — which has featured a patchwork of state-by-state, competing and at times contradictory decisions — health experts are rushing to offer their own long-term strategies to combat the virus and edge America closer back to normal. Continue reading.

Capitol Police officer tests positive for coronavirus

The Hill logoA United States Capitol Police (USCP) employee has tested positive for the coronavirus, a spokesperson confirmed to The Hill.

The USCP employee has been self-quarantined since March 18.

“The USCP has contacted employees in order to identify individuals who may have been in close contact with the affected employee. The Department has taken, and will continue to take, all the necessary steps to ensure that any affected work areas or facilities were properly cleaned,” USCP spokeswoman Eva Malecki said in an e-mail Sunday to The Hill.  Continue reading.

Governors, health experts warn coronavirus restrictions must stay in place

The Hill logoGovernors and health experts alike warned Sunday that restrictions to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic must stay in place as the disease continues to spread.

Widespread social distancing guidelines and orders can’t be lifted until the number of COVID-19 cases levels off or drops, experts said, also cautioning that more widespread testing is needed to ensure accurate numbers.

“I want to see a flattening and a turning down to the curve. So, if somebody asked me a question, what about New York, should we be pulling back on New York, obviously not,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”  Continue reading.

Relief package billions can’t buy hospitals out of shortages

The billions of tax dollars headed for hospitals and states as part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus response bill won’t fix the problem facing doctors and nurses: a critical shortage of protective gowns, gloves and masks.

The problem isn’t a lack of money, experts say. It’s that there’s not enough of those supplies available to buy. What’s more, the crisis has revealed a fragmented procurement system now descending into chaos just as demand soars, The Associated Press has found.

Hospitals, state governments and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are left bidding against each other and driving up prices. Continue reading.

Inside the White House during ’15 Days to Slow the Spread’

Staffers described a time of reassessment as the West Wing reoriented itself entirely around a singular mission. They witnessed historic moments. They wondered what it would all mean.

An eerie quiet crept over the White House.

Desks were empty. Office lights were turned off. Many staffers had been told to work from home. The bustling Navy Mess was closed, and the usual stream of visitors rushing in and out of the West Wing had slowed to a trickle. Left behind were President Donald Trump, his top aides, and a small group of staffers, hunkered down and making battle plans as the novel coronavirus marched across the country. All were acutely aware their decisions in the coming days could define their legacies — not to mention whether they kept their jobs after 2020.

It was the beginning of the 15-day period during which the White House hoped it could slow the advancing virus and stem the economic bleeding left in its wake. For the next two weeks, the president’s coronavirus task force encouraged Americans to essentially self-quarantine, while aides worked with anxious governors across the country and quarreling lawmakers negotiating over the largest economic recovery bill the country has ever seen. Continue reading.

The Lost Month: How a Failure to Test Blinded the U.S. to Covid-19

New York Times logoAggressive screening might have helped contain the coronavirus in the United States. But technical flaws, regulatory hurdles and lapses in leadership let it spread undetected for weeks.

WASHINGTON — Early on, the dozen federal officials charged with defending America against the coronavirus gathered day after day in the White House Situation Room, consumed by crises. They grappled with how to evacuate the United States consulate in Wuhan, China, ban Chinese travelers and extract Americans from the Diamond Princess and other cruise ships.

The members of the coronavirus task force typically devoted only five or 10 minutes, often at the end of contentious meetings, to talk about testing, several participants recalled. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its leaders assured the others, had developed a diagnostic model that would be rolled out quickly as a first step.

But as the deadly virus spread from China with ferocity across the United States between late January and early March, large-scale testing of people who might have been infected did not happen — because of technical flaws, regulatory hurdles, business-as-usual bureaucracies and lack of leadership at multiple levels, according to interviews with more than 50 current and former public health officials, administration officials, senior scientists and company executives. Continue reading.

Gouged prices, middlemen and medical supply chaos: Why governors are so upset with Trump

Washington Post logoMasks that used to cost pennies now cost several dollars. Companies outside the traditional supply chain offer wildly varying levels of price and quality. Health authorities say they have few other choices to meet their needs in a ‘dog-eat-dog’ battle.

Inside RWJBarnabas Health, New Jersey’s biggest health-care network, hospital leaders are so desperate for medical supplies to combat the coronavirus pandemic that they’re paying 50 times the usual price.

Confusion and want are so massive that they’ve been willing to work with sellers they don’t know, even paying upfront for the equipment they need. The threat of fraud is everywhere: A recent delivery of 500,000 surgical masks from a Chinese supplier turned out to be medically useless. They appeared designed for a nail salon.

“We’re burning through cash, but there’s no other option,” the network’s chief medical and quality officer, John Bonamo, told The Washington Post. “The rules as we know them don’t exist anymore.” Continue reading.

Trump allies fear a premature victory lap against coronavirus

A push by the president to unleash the economy is creating nightmares among some close supporters.

President Donald Trump wants to reopen parts of the U.S. economy hit by the coronavirus outbreak. Allies close to his 2020 campaign operation are raising red flags — warning it could be imprudent to inject more uncertainty into an already unpredictable crisis.

Those concerns intensified this week when Trump identified Easter Sunday as his target date for relaxing some of the social distancing guidelines his administration has put in place to slow the spread of the virus. The prospect of watching Americans shuffle into “packed churches” on April 12, an image Trump said he hopes to see, has alarmed some of his closest supporters who fear that rushing to end the economic clampdown — without full support from public health experts — could have catastrophic consequences on his bid for reelection.

“What worries me is if this goes south,” said former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. “If he’s right and there are no new cases, and the business community starts to say how amazing that is, then he’s going to look like a hero.” Continue reading.

Trump’s Baseless Claim That a Recession Would Be Deadlier Than the Coronavirus

New York Times logoThe opposite is more likely to be true, according to research and experts.

President Trump, in saying that he wanted to reopen the economy by Easter, has argued that an economic downturn would be more deadly than the coronavirus.

WHAT WAS SAID

“You have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies. You have death. Probably — and I mean definitely — would be in far greater numbers than the numbers that we’re talking about with regard to the virus.”
— at a news conference on Monday

“You’re going to lose more people by putting a country into a massive recession or depression.”
— during a virtual town hall on Fox News on Tuesday

This lacks evidence. Though the question of the overall impact of recessions on mortality remains unsettled, experts disputed Mr. Trump’s claim that an economic downturn would be more deadly than a pandemic. (The White House did not respond when asked for the source of the president’s conjecture.) Continue reading.