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MADDOW - Trump's deadly, bumbling HHS dropped the ball and walked away.
Link to tweet
In addition to the ventilators HHS hasn't told them to send anywhere, DOD also has more than a dozen labs that could process COVID-19 tests. They offered the labs to HHS for civilian use **more than two weeks ago**. HHS never bothered to put them to use:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/31/politics/pentagon-ventilators/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/31/politics/pentagon-ventilators/index.html
Link to tweet
"HHS holding up delivery of 2,000 U.S. ventilators, Pentagon says" - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/hhs-holding-up-delivery-of-2000-u-s-ventilators-pentagon-says
Pentagon says it still hasn't sent ventilators because it hasn't been told where to send them
Washington (CNN)Despite having committed to transferring 2,000 ventilators in military stocks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the coronavirus outbreak, the Pentagon has not shipped any of them because the agencies have not asked for them or provided a shipping location, the Pentagon's top logistics official said Tuesday.
In order to ship the badly needed equipment, the Defense Department has to be given a location to send them by civilian authorities who have to decide where the items are most needed.
"There was discussion with HHS on where to send them. And then they said hey wait, we're trying to take a look at the demand that's required, and so we were asked to just wait while there was just some sorting through on that. And I won't speak on behalf of them, but we were in a position to provide 2,000," said Lt. General Giovanni Tuck.
Tuck said he had no details on the HHS decisions, but added that "we haven't provided any, because as of last night, we were asked to just hold on the ones that we have, and then we will push them when they're ready for them."
He emphasized there are 1,000 ventilators fully ready to be shipped as soon as the Pentagon gets a destination of where to send them. The other 1,000 can also be assembled and shipped within days of getting the order he indicated.
The uncertainty comes as health experts continue to say there is a serious need for more respirators and ventilators to deal with the surge of coronavirus patients at hospitals across the country. Medical professionals have also asked for help related to testing for the virus but several days after Pentagon officials offered to assist in this area, it remains unclear if they have begun to do so.
Civilian Pentagon officials had repeatedly said they are making ventilators and five million N-95 respirator masks available. So far only 1.5 million masks have been shipped by the Pentagon. Another 500,000 are to be shipped within days.
But HHS and FEMA have given DoD no indication of when or where they precisely want the other three million items to go.
In order to ship the badly needed equipment, the Defense Department has to be given a location to send them by civilian authorities who have to decide where the items are most needed.
"There was discussion with HHS on where to send them. And then they said hey wait, we're trying to take a look at the demand that's required, and so we were asked to just wait while there was just some sorting through on that. And I won't speak on behalf of them, but we were in a position to provide 2,000," said Lt. General Giovanni Tuck.
Tuck said he had no details on the HHS decisions, but added that "we haven't provided any, because as of last night, we were asked to just hold on the ones that we have, and then we will push them when they're ready for them."
He emphasized there are 1,000 ventilators fully ready to be shipped as soon as the Pentagon gets a destination of where to send them. The other 1,000 can also be assembled and shipped within days of getting the order he indicated.
The uncertainty comes as health experts continue to say there is a serious need for more respirators and ventilators to deal with the surge of coronavirus patients at hospitals across the country. Medical professionals have also asked for help related to testing for the virus but several days after Pentagon officials offered to assist in this area, it remains unclear if they have begun to do so.
Civilian Pentagon officials had repeatedly said they are making ventilators and five million N-95 respirator masks available. So far only 1.5 million masks have been shipped by the Pentagon. Another 500,000 are to be shipped within days.
But HHS and FEMA have given DoD no indication of when or where they precisely want the other three million items to go.
...
Unclear if Pentagon has tested civilians
Additionally, it remains unclear if the Pentagon has tested any civilian patients for the virus more than two weeks after Esper said it had offered to do so.
"We are not maxing our capacity in our labs around the world," Joint Staff Surgeon Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs said at a Pentagon press conference last week, adding that the Defense Department is currently operating 16 labs capable of conducting the test.
US military is not conducting civilian coronavirus tests despite offering to more than a week ago
"We have not received an RFA, a request for assistance, from HHS that I'm aware of," he said. "But we do have capacity in some of our labs. We've identified that to HHS."
Additionally, it remains unclear if the Pentagon has tested any civilian patients for the virus more than two weeks after Esper said it had offered to do so.
"We are not maxing our capacity in our labs around the world," Joint Staff Surgeon Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs said at a Pentagon press conference last week, adding that the Defense Department is currently operating 16 labs capable of conducting the test.
US military is not conducting civilian coronavirus tests despite offering to more than a week ago
"We have not received an RFA, a request for assistance, from HHS that I'm aware of," he said. "But we do have capacity in some of our labs. We've identified that to HHS."
24 replies
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The people who allowed this to happen need to answer for their crimes and the entire world needs to know who is to be held responsible for this atrocity. 
Hiding the # and basic info of dead people as their re-election looms, this is their play?
These monsters make the devil blush?
I wish them drawn and quartered without any prep.
Faces of Death faked it really well for back in the day, it made a lasting impression?
They're really owning us now. Boy, oh boy!
People need to be held accountable for this carnage.