Media mogul Steve Forbes said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “botched” its response to the coronavirus outbreak and wants a commission fashioned like the one following 9/11 to prevent similar failings in the future.
“[I]n terms of the future, we need a commission like we did after Pearl Harbor — like after 9/11: Why did the CDC really botch this thing up? We weren’t prepared with tests,” Forbes told Fox News host Laura Ingraham Monday.
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States was a commission established after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and investigated the full details of the devastation and the country’s preparedness.
“They knew back in November [and] December that a bad thing was coming our way and they responded like a bureaucracy more interested in bureaucratic rules rather than mobilizing the private sector,” Forbes said.
He also urged the U.S. to cut reliance on China for the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals exported for American consumption, a call that echoes an executive order expected to be signed this week. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro announced Monday that President Trump plans to sign a “Buy American” executive order to reduce reliance on foreign countries for medically related exports.
“The essence of the order … is to bring all of that home so that we don’t have to worry about foreign dependency,” Navarro said, arguing that the U.S. is dependent on foreign sources for too many supplies. “We’ve got face mask issues, goggle issues, things like that.”
Trump declared a national emergency last week, which frees up funds to mitigate the spread of the virus.
“The action I am taking will open up access to up to $50 billion of very importantly — very important and a large amount of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this disease,” Trump said in the Rose Garden announcement.
Johns Hopkins reported 4,600 COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and 85 deaths across 49 states as of Tuesday. Three states are facing the most outbreaks: New York, Washington, and California.
