Squandered months: An AP investigation shows Trump administration orders for N95 masks and ventilators to beef up national stockpile lagged as COVID19 spread like wildfire through U.S.
Eight days later, on March 13, Trump declared the outbreak a
HHS declined this past week to say how many N95 masks it has on hand. But as of March 31, the White House said more than 11.6 million had been distributed to state and local governments from the national stockpile — about 90% of what was available at the start of the year. The stockpile was created in 1999 to prevent supply-chain disruptions for the predicted Y2K computer problems. It expanded after 9/11 to prepare for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks. Congress provided money in 2006 to prepare for a potential influenza pandemic, though Burel said much of that stock was used during the H1N1 flu outbreak three years later.
Experts are now worried the U.S. will also soon exhaust its supply of ventilators, which can cost upward of $12,000 each. Throughout March, governors and mayors of big cities urged Trump to use his authority under the Defense Production Act to direct private companies to ramp up production of ventilators. It wasn’t until last week that Trump finally said he would use that power to order General Motors to begin manufacturing ventilators — work the companyThe federal government had made an effort to prepare for a surge in the need for ventilators, but it was allowed to languish.
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