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Three Timelines Show Why Spiking American Death Rate Was Avoidable

By March 31, 2020No Comments

Three Timelines Show Why Spiking American Death Rate Was Avoidable

Trump Now Saying Tens of Thousands Of Americans Dying Is Best Case Scenario But The Massive Failures Deploying Tests, Securing Supplies & Ignoring Warnings Explain Why That Was Avoidable 

For months, Donald Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus crisis and failed to take decisive action to prepare our nation, including not securing enough tests, personal protective equipment and ventilators early on to stop the spread of the outbreak. As a result of his inaction, hospitals are now overwhelmed and Trump is claiming that tens of thousands of Americans will die is the best case scenario. Here are some key moments that show this was avoidable:

Timeline #1: How Trump Dropped The Ball On Testing

JANUARY

  • Trump Administration Decided Not To Use Tests Adopted By The WHO. The Trump administration decided early on not to use the tests adopted by the World Health Organization, losing crucial time that the U.S. could have been testing and allowing coronavirus to spread updetected several weeks. (January 2020)

  • Instead, Trump’s CDC Decided To Develop Its Own Test, Releasing Details 10 Days After The WHO And Allowing The Virus To Spread In the Meantime. The CDC published details for its coronavirus test ten days after the WHO published the details of its own test, at least two weeks after the virus had entered the U.S. (January 2020)

FEBRUARY

  • By Early February, Public Health Labs Had Notified CDC Of A Problem With Its Test. By February 8, public health labs had started to notify the CDC of troubles with its test. Four days later, officials acknowledged the problem during a news conference. (February 8, 2020)

  • Days Later, Trump’s CDC Instructed State Labs To Stop Using Their Tests Because Of Flaws. Because the CDC tests gave inconclusive results, the CDC instructed state labs to stop testing. By mid-february, the U.S. was only testing about 100 samples a day. (February 2020)

  • The Shortage Of Functioning Tests Led The CDC To Impose Narrow Criteria About Who Could Get Tested. Because of the CDC’s limited testing capacity, it maintained extremely narrow testing criteria for weeks, only allowing people who had recently traveled to China or been in contact with someone who had the virus to be tested. This allowed the virus to spread without detection for weeks. (February 2020)

  • The Lack Of Tests Meant Public Health Officials Could Not Use Surveillance Testing To Monitor The Virus’ Spread. Per the New York Times, the lack of coronavirus tests meant that local public health officials could not use the essential epidemiological tool of surveillance testing to see where the virus might be hiding by testing swab samples from people screened for the common flu for coronavirus. (February 2020)

  • Weeks After The CDC Testing Debacle, Trump’s FDA Finally Relaxed Testing Rules Preventing The Approval Of Tests That Might Actually Work. Trump’s FDA finally relaxed testing rules after leaving independently developed coronavirus tests, including one developed by the University of Washington, on hold for as many as 11 days. (February 29, 2020)

MARCH

  • By The Seventh Week, Trump HHS Secretary Alex Azar Promised 4 Million Tests But Delivered Only 25,200. Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar promised 4 million test kits would be available by the end of the following week — seven days later CDC and state health labs only had 25,200 tests. (March 6, 2020)

  • CDC Continued Insisting Their Test Was “A Very Accurate Test” Weeks After Instructing State Labs To Stop Using It. As it became clear that the CDC’s tests were flawed, Trump’s CDC continued to insist that it had developed “a very accurate test.” (March 6, 2020)

  • By The Eighth Week, South Korea Had Tested More Than Five Times As Many People As The U.S.  Eight weeks after the first confirmed case in both South Korea and the United States, South Korea had tested 287,000 people for coronavirus and the United States had only tested 55,000 people.  (March 17, 2020)

  • Trump Coronavirus Task Force Exposed To Have Only Spent 5-10 Minutes Of Meetings To Talk About Testing. The New York Times reported that members of Trump’s coronavirus task force typically only devoted five to ten minutes, often at the end of contentious meetings, to discuss testing. (March 2020)

  • The Trump Administration Expected To Have “Well Over 27 Million” Coronavirus Tests In The Market By March 28, 2020. Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services Admiral Brett Giroir said of coronavirus tests at a White House press conference: “We expect that, by March 28th, to be well over 27 million into the market.” (March 21, 2020)

  • Trump Claimed He Hadn’t “Heard About Testing Being A Problem” In Weeks. Trump claimed that he had not “heard about testing being a problem” in weeks, despite multiple state and local officials ringing the alarm about a lack of testing on a daily basis. (March 30, 2020)

Timeline #2: How Trump Failed To Prepare Hospitals With Personal Protective Equipment, Ventilators

JANUARY

  • Trump Ignored National Security Council’s Pandemic Playbook Detailing How to Ramp Up Production. As officials learned of the impending coronavirus crisis, Trump ignored a 69 page National Security Council playbook that his administration was first briefed on in 2017 and which said the Administration should have begun procuring personal protective equipment at least two months ago. (January 2020)

FEBRUARY

  • Trump Cut HHS Secretary Azar’s Budget Request To Buy Medical Supplies By 75%. A Washington Post report showed that Donald Trump cut HHS Secretary Alex Azar’s budget request to buy respirator masks and other supplies for the national stockpile by 75%. On February 5, HHS Secretary Alex Azar requested $2 billion — but Trump slashed that to only $500 million when his White House eventually submitted a budget request weeks later. Now a mask shortage is forcing healthcare workers to use bandanas & scarves. (February 5, 2020)

  • The Trump Administration Sent 17.8 Tons Of Personal Protective Equipment To China As The WHO Warned Of The “Limited Stock Of PPE.” The same day the WHO warned of a “limited stock of PPE,” the Trump administration announced it was transporting nearly 17.8 tons (more than 35,000 pounds) of personal protective equipment including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials to China. (February 7, 2020)

  • Back in February, HHS Secretary Alex Azar Said He Could Use The Defense Production Act But Didn’t “Need It.” Trump Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar acknowledged that he had the power to use the Defense Production Act to increase production of crucial medical supplies, but said “I don’t have any procurements I need it for now.” (February 28, 2020)

MARCH

  • Trump Said The Federal Government Was “Not A Shipping Clerk” For Medical Supplies. While governors pled for life-saving equipment and states were forced to bid against each other for ventilators, Trump continued to refuse to enact the Defense Production Act and told reporters that the federal government was “not a shipping clerk” for such supplies. (March 19, 2020)

  • Ford & GE Released Timeline Indicating That They Could Have Had Supplies Ready By Mid-April If Trump Had Asked Them to Begin Production In Early February. Trump waited until hospitals were already experiencing severe shortages of life-saving equipment to invoke a limited portion of the  Defense Production Act. Had Trump acted two months ago, experts and Ford’s own timeline agree that critical supplies would already be in production. Because Trump delayed acting, necessary equipment is unlikely before June. (March 24, 2020)

  • Amid U.S. Shortages, Trump Vowed To Send Ventilators To Europe. Despite estimates that as many as 31 patients may need ventilation per ventilator available in the United States, Trump insisted that the U.S. would be able to send ventilators to Italy, France, and Spain. (March 30, 2020)

Timeline #3: Trump Ignored Warnings, Eliminated Those Tasked With Preparing 

2018

  • Trump Laid Off Global Health Staff And Cut 80% Of Epidemic Prevention Activities. Trump tried to cut the global health section of the CDC, laying off staff and closing 80% of epidemic prevention activities that were designed to combat public health crises like this one. (February 2018)

  • Trump Eliminated The White House Global Pandemic Response Team. Trump eliminated and didn’t replace the White House Global Pandemic Response team. (May 2018)

2019

  • Trump Eliminated Key CDC Position Focused On Detecting Disease Outbreaks In China. Trump eliminated a key CDC position focused on detecting disease outbreaks in China and cut the staff at the Beijing office of the CDC by two thirds. (July 2019)

JANUARY

  • CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield Was Warned Of Virus’ Severity On New Years Day. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield was warned about the severity of Covid-19 from his Chinese counterparts all the way back around New Year’s Day. In one conversation, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention burst into tears. (Early January 2020)

  • Trump Ignored Intelligence Officials’ Briefings About The Outbreak In January. Trump ignored the classified briefings from his own intelligence officials warning him about the outbreak. (January 2020)

FEBRUARY

  • In His Administration’s FY21 Budget Proposal, Trump Requested A $65 Million Cut To The World Health Organization. The Trump administration requested a $65 million cut to the World Health Organization in its FY21 Budget Proposal, a more than 50% decrease from FY20 spending. (February 2020)

  • Senior Trump Administration Officials Warned Of Anticipated Medical Shortages.  In an email chain titled “Red Dawn Breaking Bad” that included senior officials across the Department of Veterans Affairs, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Health and Human Services, senior medical adviser at the Department of Veterans Affairs Dr. Carter Mecher warned of anticipated shortages:  “We should plan assuming we won’t have enough PPE — so need to change the battlefield and how we envision or even define the front lines.” (February 25, 2020)

MARCH

  • CDC Instructed Health Workers To Use Bandanas And Scarves In Absence Of Masks. As Trump refused to enact the Defense Production Act, the CDC instructed healthcare workers to use bandanas and scarves to protect themselves because there weren’t enough masks. (March 17, 2020)

  • Hospitals Began To Consider Universal Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders For Coronavirus Patients.  As Trump refused to enact the Defense Production Act, Hospitals were forced to consider do-not-resuscitate orders for coronavirus patients because there are not enough masks and gloves to protect doctors and nurses. (March 25, 2020)