LANSING– A new report from the Associated Press highlights how Trump was caught unprepared for COVID-19, wasting months with his erratic and chaotic leadership. The administration waited until mid-March to begin ordering lifesaving N95 masks, ventilators, and other PPE as Trump called the virus a “hoax” and downplayed the dangerous pandemic. The virus has now killed over 600 Michiganders and infected at least 15,000 more. READ MORE HERE:
ASSOCIATED PRESS: U.S. ‘wasted’ months before preparing for virus pandemic
By Michael Biesecker
- After the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment.
- A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies largely 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, three months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients needing critical care is surging. Some state and local officials report receiving broken ventilators and decade-old dry-rotted masks.
- Trump spent January and February playing down the threat from the new virus. He derided warnings of pandemic reaching the U.S. as a hoax perpetrated by Democrats and the media. As the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global public health emergency on Jan. 30, Trump assured the American people that the virus was “very well under control” and he predicted “a very good ending.”
