HHS warn US government does not have enough stockpiled medical equipment to deal with COVID-19

[RandySF]

(CNN)Top health care officials said Monday that there is not enough stockpiled medical equipment like masks, gowns and gloves to fulfill the anticipated need of nation's health care system as it deals with the coronavirus.

Officials from the Department of Health and Human Services told medical professionals on a conference call Monday that there was not enough personal protective equipment in the Strategic National Stockpile to fulfill anticipated gaps in state and local supplies, according to a source who was on the call. The call was confirmed to CNN by a Department of Health and Human Services official.

The officials, from HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness Reponses, said on the call that the government didn't yet have a solution for the looming shortfall, but was working on one.

The call comes on the same day that President Donald Trump announced new White House guidelines for the crisis that advise the public to limit gatherings to 10 or fewer people. In a somber news conference, Trump also asked the nation to avoid going to restaurants, bars and food courts and to limit travel as much as possible -- a stark change in messaging after the President had spent much of the last few weeks downplaying the crisis.

"We have been transparent that more supplies are needed -- hence the request to Congress for additional funding so we could procure more and scale up production," an HHS spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. "The role at the Federal level is to appropriately implement regulatory relief, provide alternative sources and support manufacturing, and adjust allocation to appropriately target areas in need."



https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/16/politics/top-health-officials-stockpiled-equipment/index.html

[Brother Buzz]

1. That's unpossible

The orange told us they're ordered "a lot of different elements of medical."

[Igel]

2. Yes, but the feds are tier three.

Local, state, federal.

Local uses what it has, then relies on state resources when local resources are overwhelmed.

States use their resources, and fall back on federal resources when state resources are overwhelmed.

We've had lots of states saying how inept Trump was in not doing what was necessary and planning ahead. The rank incompetence of not seeing the problem and not planning for it. Now states are saying, "Hey, we need stuff." I guess they saw the need and problem, but actually decided not to plan ahead. Undercuts their messaging by a fair amount.

Not that other countries have been any better at it.

Note that almost every state has cut down on emergency medical preparedness in the last decade. While CDC funding is up from 2016, it's still had the preparedness funding to states reduced. States not only didn't make up the reduction, they cut their own funding. They only point out how the feds reduced funding to the states, not how the states reducing their own funding, as well. It also undercuts that messaging.