Six Must-Read Coronavirus Stories
Los Angeles Times: Trump administration ended pandemic early-warning program to detect coronaviruses
NBC News: Trump administration’s lack of a unified coronavirus strategy will cost lives, say a dozen experts
USA Today: Trump hasn’t ordered any ventilators from GM, despite saying he was using wartime powers to force production
Politico: FEMA tells lawmakers most new ventilators won’t be ready until June
NY Times: The 1,000-Bed Comfort Was Supposed to Aid New York. It Has 20 Patients
Politico: Poll: Majority of Americans now disapprove of Trump’s coronavirus response
See below for a round up of six must-read stories on coronavirus that shouldn’t get lost in the deluge of news:
LA Times: The Trump Administration ended a pandemic early-warning program aimed at training scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to threats such as the coronavirus.
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“Two months before the novel coronavirus is thought to have begun its deadly advance in Wuhan, China, the Trump administration ended a $200-million pandemic early-warning program aimed at training scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to such a threat.” [Los Angeles Times, 4/2/2020]
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“The initiative, called PREDICT, also trained and supported staff in 60 foreign laboratories — including the Wuhan lab that identified SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.” [Los Angeles Times, 4/2/2020]
NBC: Experts are warning that Trump’s lack of a national strategy to deal with the coronavirus will result in more deaths.
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“The Trump administration’s decision to let states chart their own responses to the coronavirus crisis rather than impose a national strategy will cost thousands of lives and is likely to result in an open-ended outbreak rolling across the country, a dozen public health experts told NBC News.” [NBC News, 4/3/2020]
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“So far, the federal government hasn’t leveraged all its authority and influence to dramatically expand testing and tracing measures, ensure a sufficient supply of crucial medical equipment or require residents of all 50 states to stay at home.” [NBC News, 4/3/2020]
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“Each day that passes without such a national strategy, the experts say, will raise the ultimate U.S. death toll from COVID-19, the disease associated with the virus. Right now, there aren’t enough tests and gear as states compete with one another to buy them on the open market. And there is very little ability to trace who has the virus and where it is spreading.” [NBC News, 4/3/2020]
USA Today: Trump broke his promise to force companies to produce much-needed ventilators by not following through with using the Defense Production Act.
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“Nearly a week after invoking his powers under a Korean War-era law to compel General Motors to manufacture ventilators for coronavirus, President Donald Trump’s administration has not formally ordered any of the machines, USA TODAY has learned.” [USA Today, 4/2/2020]
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“But Trump said Friday he would use the act to require General Motors to make ventilators after what he described as a dispute with the company over supply and pricing. Three administration officials speaking on the condition of anonymity told USA TODAY that the government is still exploring its options and has not yet placed an order under the Defense Production Act for any of the machines.” [USA Today, 4/2/2020]
Politico: Ventilator shortage will continue as 100,000 Trump-promised devices won’t be available until June.
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“Most of the 100,000 ventilators that President Donald Trump promised the U.S. would obtain won’t be available until June, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials told the House Oversight Committee this week.” [Politico, 4/2/2020]
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“Most of the ventilators Trump said would be ready before the end of June won’t be available until that month ‘at the earliest,’” the Oversight Committee said FEMA indicated. [Politico, 4/2/2020]
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“The ventilator shortfall could worsen what is already expected to be a sharp spike in the number of cases and deaths from coronavirus around the country, as the spread of the disease is expected to climb until peaking perhaps by the middle of April. Trump has bristled at suggestions that the federal government has fallen short, criticizing governors and lawmakers who have complained about his response and declaring that some states had shown an ‘insatiable appetite’ for equipment they don’t necessarily need.” [Politico, 4/2/2020]
NYT: The USNS Comfort has only treated twenty patients and the crew of highly trained medical staff remains largely idle as New York’s land hospitals buckle under the strain.
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“On Thursday, though, the huge white vessel, which officials had promised would bring succor to a city on the brink, sat mostly empty, infuriating executives at local hospitals. The ship’s 1,000 beds are largely unused, its 1,200-member crew mostly idle.” [New York Times, 4/2/2020]
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“Only 20 patients had been transferred to the ship, officials said, even as New York hospitals struggled to find space for the thousands infected with the coronavirus. Another Navy hospital ship, the U.S.N.S. Mercy, docked in Los Angeles, has had a total of 15 patients, officials said.” [New York Times, 4/2/2020]
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“President Trump left a nine-day sequester in the White House last week to travel to Norfolk, Va., to personally see off the ship as it set sail for New York, saying it would play a “critical role.” The ship’s arrival on Monday was cheered as one of the few bright moments in a grim time for the city. But the reality has been different. A tangle of military protocols and bureaucratic hurdles has prevented the Comfort from accepting many patients at all.” [New York Times, 4/2/2020]
Politico: New Poll Shows Trump Under Water On His Coronavirus Response.
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“An ABC News/Ipsos poll released Friday reports that 52 percent of respondents disapprove of his management of the deadly outbreak, while only 47 percent approve.” [Politico, 4/3/2020]