Post by the Scribe on Apr 4, 2020 13:37:27 GMT
Here are the government's biggest failures in the coronavirus response
www.yahoo.com/news/governments-biggest-failures-coronavirus-response-130750197.html
Chuck Todd and Mark Murray and Carrie Dann and Melissa Holzberg
NBC NewsApril 3, 2020, 6:07 AM MST
Here are the government's biggest failures in the coronavirus response
WASHINGTON — We’ve seen the U.S. government fail several times over the last 20 years – the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, the debt-ceiling debacle, the government shutdowns.
But history will likely be most unkind of all to the federal government’s initial response to the novel coronavirus over the last two months.
Let’s count the ways the whole federal government has failed to date, starting at the very top.
1. President Trump at first downplayed the coronavirus, and then he later sent mixed messages about it.
2. Trump and his administration saw the virus – and initially reacted to it – primarily as an immigration/travel/border issuerather than a health one.
3. Trump consistently attacked critical Democrats (like Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and most recently Sen. Chuck Schumer), while he singled out Republicans for praise.
4. The administration didn’t heed classified warnings from the intelligence community -- back in January and February -- about the dangers the coronavirus posed for the global community.
5. The administration, in 2018, disbanded its National Security Council pandemic team.
6. The administration eliminated a CDC job dedicated to detecting outbreaks in China.
7. The Department of Homeland Security, which plays a vital role in responding to disasters, remains staffed with an acting secretary, an acting chief of staff, an acting general counsel and a vacancy at deputy secretary.
8. The Centers for Disease Control’s initial coronavirus test failed, resulting in a lost month to combat the virus.
9. The Food and Drug Administration’s requirements stymied university labs from conducting tests
10. The government’s emergency stockpile of respirator masks, gloves and other medical supplies is nearly depleted.
And in just the past day, we learned…
11. Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, who is helping to lead the effort to replenish supplies of personal protective equipment, admitted that the administration is delivering products it acquires to medical supply companies – rather than delivering them directly to the hospitals in need, per NBC’s Geoff Bennett. (Bottom line: The federal government is not taking over the supply chain.)
12. The U.S. Navy relieved the captain who sounded the alarm about an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
13. The Federal Emergency Management Agency officials told Congress that the projected demand for ventilators required for coronavirus-stricken patients "outstrips the capacity" of the Strategic National Stockpile.
14. And as NBC News has reported, it wasn't until Thursday night that banks received their 31 pages of guidance from the Treasury Department on how to lend the money in the $350 billion small-business relief program — and some banks haven't even decided whether they can participate on the opening day.
Many of these failures — see the Top 4 on this list — can be traced directly to the president, but the rest have so many other fingerprints on them.
How many of those failures were due to poor leadership at the very top? How many were systemic? A combination of the two?
Americans 40 years and older have seen this country’s government do big things — go to the moon, expand civil rights, end the Cold War, help build the internet, combat AIDS.
But if you’re in your 20s or 30s, you’ve mostly seen the government fail again and again.
And the government’s response to the coronavirus – just two months into the crisis — is the biggest failure of all.
Tweet of the day
Data Download: The numbers you need to know today
245,135: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (That’s 28,907 more than yesterday morning.)
5,916: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far. (That’s 1,082 more than yesterday morning).
1.29 million: The number of coronavirus TESTS that have been administered in the United States so far, according to researchers at The COVID Tracking Project.
701,000: That’s the number of jobs the U.S. economy lost in March, according to the Labor Department’s latest report.
3.5 million: The number of Americans who have likely lost employer-based health insurance, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute.
75: The number of inmates at facilities run by the Bureau of Prisons who have tested positive for the virus
31: The number of pages of guidance that lenders received last night from the Treasury Department on how to administer small business aid, leading some to say they aren’t ready to start accepting applications
Nearly half: The number of states that currently lack funds to pay out unemployment claims.
About 13 percent: A guess at the current unemployment rate, according to one new estimate.
Another week and a half: How long it will take the first Americans to start receiving stimulus checks, which are now expected to start rolling out the week of April 13.
www.yahoo.com/news/governments-biggest-failures-coronavirus-response-130750197.html
Chuck Todd and Mark Murray and Carrie Dann and Melissa Holzberg
NBC NewsApril 3, 2020, 6:07 AM MST
Here are the government's biggest failures in the coronavirus response
WASHINGTON — We’ve seen the U.S. government fail several times over the last 20 years – the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina, the debt-ceiling debacle, the government shutdowns.
But history will likely be most unkind of all to the federal government’s initial response to the novel coronavirus over the last two months.
Let’s count the ways the whole federal government has failed to date, starting at the very top.
1. President Trump at first downplayed the coronavirus, and then he later sent mixed messages about it.
2. Trump and his administration saw the virus – and initially reacted to it – primarily as an immigration/travel/border issuerather than a health one.
3. Trump consistently attacked critical Democrats (like Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and most recently Sen. Chuck Schumer), while he singled out Republicans for praise.
4. The administration didn’t heed classified warnings from the intelligence community -- back in January and February -- about the dangers the coronavirus posed for the global community.
5. The administration, in 2018, disbanded its National Security Council pandemic team.
6. The administration eliminated a CDC job dedicated to detecting outbreaks in China.
7. The Department of Homeland Security, which plays a vital role in responding to disasters, remains staffed with an acting secretary, an acting chief of staff, an acting general counsel and a vacancy at deputy secretary.
8. The Centers for Disease Control’s initial coronavirus test failed, resulting in a lost month to combat the virus.
9. The Food and Drug Administration’s requirements stymied university labs from conducting tests
10. The government’s emergency stockpile of respirator masks, gloves and other medical supplies is nearly depleted.
And in just the past day, we learned…
11. Rear Adm. John Polowczyk, who is helping to lead the effort to replenish supplies of personal protective equipment, admitted that the administration is delivering products it acquires to medical supply companies – rather than delivering them directly to the hospitals in need, per NBC’s Geoff Bennett. (Bottom line: The federal government is not taking over the supply chain.)
12. The U.S. Navy relieved the captain who sounded the alarm about an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
13. The Federal Emergency Management Agency officials told Congress that the projected demand for ventilators required for coronavirus-stricken patients "outstrips the capacity" of the Strategic National Stockpile.
14. And as NBC News has reported, it wasn't until Thursday night that banks received their 31 pages of guidance from the Treasury Department on how to lend the money in the $350 billion small-business relief program — and some banks haven't even decided whether they can participate on the opening day.
Many of these failures — see the Top 4 on this list — can be traced directly to the president, but the rest have so many other fingerprints on them.
How many of those failures were due to poor leadership at the very top? How many were systemic? A combination of the two?
Americans 40 years and older have seen this country’s government do big things — go to the moon, expand civil rights, end the Cold War, help build the internet, combat AIDS.
But if you’re in your 20s or 30s, you’ve mostly seen the government fail again and again.
And the government’s response to the coronavirus – just two months into the crisis — is the biggest failure of all.
Tweet of the day
Data Download: The numbers you need to know today
245,135: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (That’s 28,907 more than yesterday morning.)
5,916: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far. (That’s 1,082 more than yesterday morning).
1.29 million: The number of coronavirus TESTS that have been administered in the United States so far, according to researchers at The COVID Tracking Project.
701,000: That’s the number of jobs the U.S. economy lost in March, according to the Labor Department’s latest report.
3.5 million: The number of Americans who have likely lost employer-based health insurance, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute.
75: The number of inmates at facilities run by the Bureau of Prisons who have tested positive for the virus
31: The number of pages of guidance that lenders received last night from the Treasury Department on how to administer small business aid, leading some to say they aren’t ready to start accepting applications
Nearly half: The number of states that currently lack funds to pay out unemployment claims.
About 13 percent: A guess at the current unemployment rate, according to one new estimate.
Another week and a half: How long it will take the first Americans to start receiving stimulus checks, which are now expected to start rolling out the week of April 13.