The Trump administration waited until mid-March to start placing bulk orders of personal protective equipment.
The Associated Press reviewed federal contracts that showed agencies squandering crucial months that could have been used to purchase medical supplies to bolster the federal stockpile in preparation for the coronavirus pandemic, the outlet reported Sunday.
By the time the orders for N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators, and other equipment needed by healthcare workers were placed, hospitals across the country were in dire need. Three months into the crisis, the Strategic National Stockpile that was created decades ago to help during a national emergency, is nearly depleted.
“We basically wasted two months,” said Kathleen Sebelius, who was Health and Human Services secretary during the Obama administration.
The Health and Human Services Department did not respond to a request for comment about why federal officials waited to order supplies until the stockpile was nearly drained. President Trump has shifted blame to the states and the Obama administration, saying they were unprepared for the pandemic.
“States do not have the purchasing power of the federal government. They do not have the ability to run a deficit like the federal government. They do not have the logistical power of the federal government,” Sebelius countered.
Governors have said they are now bidding against each other and the federal government for scarce medical supplies, driving up the cost.
After weeks of downplaying the threat of the virus, Trump also dragged his feet in using his authority under the Defense Production Act to order companies to increase the production of ventilators and other supplies. Trump relented last week, ordering the private sector to increase the production of critical supplies.
