Barbados Claims US Seized Ventilators En Route to Country

[Dennis Donovan]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/barbados-claims-us-seized-ventilators-en-route-to-country

By Josh Marshall

April 5, 2020 9:44 p.m.

The government of Barbados is charging that shipment of 20 ventilators it had ordered and already paid for were seized by US authorities and prevented from reaching Barbados. Minister of Health and Wellness Jeffrey Bostic told reporters at a press conference “They were seized in the United States. Paid for, but seized, so we are trying to see exactly what is going to transpire there.”

To date, the epidemic appears limited in Barbados. But cases have grown rapidly in recent days. The country has 48 ventilators but only 3 of the 56 Barbadians who have tested positive are currently on ventilator support. The country has just under 300,000 residents.

Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw placed the country on a full shelter in place order on Friday.

</snip>

Huh...

[Kitchari]

1. A criminal act

By a criminal enterprise, namely the current occupants of the white house

[notdarkyet]

7. Need to be arrested and put in prisons. Guantanamo would do.

[S.E. TN Liberal]

2. More the shame on all of America...

[tanyev]

3. They're looking into other similar incidents:

What’s Up with the Feds Seizing PPE Shipments to States and Hospitals?

By Josh Marshall
|
April 4, 2020 7:20 p.m.
Let’s talk about these seizures of PPE goods by federal authorities. There are a number of instances of this and as I noted in the post below a number of reasons why it might be happening. There are numerous cases where orders placed by states or hospitals have been canceled after they have been outbid by federal authorities or federal authorities have ordered vendors to sell to the federal government. According to Kaiser Health News, those compelled sales appear to be pursuant to an executive order President Trump signed on March 18th under authorities granted by the Defense Production Act.

But what I’m more interested in are reports of federal authorities confiscating physical shipments en route to states, local governments or regional hospital systems. The most publicized case of this came at some point in March when, according to Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R), a shipment of 3 million masks ordered through BJ’s Wholesale was seized by federal authorities in the Port of New York. Baker did not say which agency confiscated the goods or under what authority. That incident was what led to the widely reported and successful effort to fly goods in from China using the New England Patriots jet.

Another case happened just yesterday when the top county official in Somerset County, New Jersey, Freeholder Director Shanel Robinson, announced that a shipment of 35,000 masks had been confiscated by federal officials. According to this report in the Franklin Reporter and Advocate, “As of early in the afternoon of April 3, Robinson said that the county was told the surgical face masks would be delivered that day, but that the federal government had taken the N-95 masks.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/whats-up-with-the-feds-seizing-ppe-shipments-to-states-and-hospitals

WTAF?

[Texaswitchy]

4. Cornering the market.

Ken doll did say they were "ours".

[gibraltar72]

5. Look in Jared's store.

[backscatter712]

6. Yep. Trump's consigliere...

[SheltieLover]

8. Taxpayers Paid Millions to Design a Low-Cost Ventilator for a Pandemic. Instead, the Company Is Sell

https://www.propublica.org/article/taxpayers-paid-millions-to-design-a-low-cost-ventilator-for-a-pandemic-instead-the-company-is-selling-versions-of-it-overseas-

As coronavirus sweeps the globe, there is not a single Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator — developed with government funds — in the U.S. stockpile. Meanwhile, Royal Philips N.V. has sold higher-priced versions to clients around the world.

Taxpayers Paid Millions to Design a Low-Cost Ventilator for a Pandemic. Instead, the Company Is Selling Versions of It Overseas.

Five years ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tried to plug a crucial hole in its preparations for a global pandemic, signing a $13.8 million contract with a Pennsylvania manufacturer to create a low-cost, portable, easy-to-use ventilator that could be stockpiled for emergencies.

---

Instead, Philips is negotiating with a White House team led by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to build 43,000 more complex and expensive hospital ventilators for Americans stricken by the virus.

No douby why Kush was so possessive of "our" ventilators. 🤬