How the Trump Administration's Negligence Deprived Healthcare Workers of N95 Masks in a Pandemic
At the Allentown, Pennsylvania, distribution center for a major supplier of personal protective equipment, President Trump lauded America’s doctors and nurses, calling them “warriors” charging into battle: “They’re running into death just like soldiers run into bullets,” said Trump, who avoided combat in Vietnam. “It’s a beautiful thing to see.”
The ugly truth is that, as commander in chief, Trump has left these frontline medical combatants without the proper defenses. As the pandemic loomed, the national stockpile of N95 masks — essential for preventing healthcare workers from catching COVID-19 — was all but empty, with less than one percent of 3.5 billion masks government models had long indicated would be needed in a pandemic.
The lack of protective masks — the equivalent of helmets or bulletproof vest for infantry — has put healthcare workers at needless risk of infection. Doctors, nurses, EMTs, nursing home attendants and other frontline workers have had to reuse N95 masks designed for single use, sometimes for weeks on end. Others have been forced to make do with less effective surgical masks. Hundreds are dead.
This is the story of another avoidable tragedy in the Trump administration’s bungling fight against the coronavirus. It draws from internal emails and memos, a federal whistleblower complaint, and congressional testimony by federal officials and private executives. That record provides a startling glimpse behind the scenes of an administration deaf to timely and dire warnings beginning in January about the need to accelerate N95 mask procurement and production to protect healthcare workers. Despite these urgent appeals the Department of Health and Human Services dragged its feet until the middle of March before signing contracts to buy significant quantities of masks. The president failed to use his powers under the Defense Production Act to require mask production until April — and even then in quantities far below the nation’s need.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/n95-masks-trump-covid19-coronavirus-health-care-workers-ppe-1013132/
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