‘It’s Like Being on eBay’: Governors Decry Federal Government’s Approach To Distributing Ventilators, Supplies
Some states are receiving more medical equipment than they've requested while others are only getting a fraction, with some of it broken at that. Governors are making increasingly frantic requests to FEMA, but say they're having to outbid each other for supplies. “You now literally will have a company call you up and say, ‘Well, California just outbid you,’” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “It’s like being on eBay with 50 other states, bidding on a ventilator.”
The New York Times:
Governors Fight Back Against Coronavirus Chaos: ‘It’s Like Being On EBay With 50 Other States’
A chorus of governors from across the political spectrum is publicly challenging the Trump administration’s assertion that the United States is well-stocked and well-prepared to test people for the coronavirus and care for the sickest patients. In New York State — the center of the nation’s outbreak, with at least 1,550 deaths — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Tuesday that the country’s patchwork approach to the pandemic had made it harder to get desperately needed ventilators. (Mervosh and Rogers, 3/31)
The Washington Post:
Governors Plead For Medical Equipment From Federal Stockpile Plagued By Shortages And Confusion
As states across the country have pleaded for critical medical equipment from a key national stockpile, Florida has promptly received 100 percent of its first two requests — with President Trump and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis both touting their close relationship. States including Oklahoma and Kentucky have received more of some equipment than they requested, while others such as Illinois, Massachusetts and Maine have secured only a fraction of their requests. It’s a disparity that has caused frustration and confusion in governors’ offices across the country, with some officials wondering whether politics is playing a role in the response. (Olorunnipa, Dawsey, Janes and Stanley-Becker, 3/31)
The Hill:
Illinois Governor Says State Has Gotten 10 Percent Of Medical Equipments It's Requested
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) on Tuesday urged President Trump to make greater use of the Defense Production Act to help states experiencing a rapid surge in hospitalizations due the novel coronavirus outbreak. During an appearance on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time," Pritzker said that his state had received just 10 percent of the medical equipment it has asked for, warning that it could cause severe shortages by as early as next week. (Wise, 3/31)
Cincinnati Enquirer:
Medical Supplies From U.S. Stockpile 'Will Not Meet' Ohio's Needs
The Ohio Department of Health has received its requested supplies of personal protective equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile, but officials claim it is not enough. The Strategic National Stockpile sent over 670,000 surgical masks, more than 490,000 gloves and a number of other items, outlined below. (Mitchell, 3/31)
The Associated Press:
Trump Allies Warn Against Feud With Swing-State Governor
President Donald Trump’s allies are trying to contain a politically risky election-year fight with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as he struggles to balance presidential politics with a global pandemic in one of the nation’s most important swing states. Both sides have tried to de-escalate the feud this week, although Trump’s supporters in particular sought to downplay tensions that ratcheted up over the weekend when the Republican president unleashed a social media broadside against Whitmer, a Democrat who had been critical of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. (Peoples and Eggert, 4/1)
The New York Times:
Defense Production Act Has Been Used Routinely, But Not With Coronavirus
Chemicals used to construct military missiles. Materials needed to build drones. Body armor for agents patrolling the southwest border. Equipment for natural disaster response. A Korean War-era law called the Defense Production Act has been invoked hundreds of thousands of times by President Trump and his administration to ensure the procurement of vital equipment, according to reports submitted to Congress and interviews with former government officials. (Kanno-Youngs and Swanson, 3/31)
CNN:
Pentagon Says It Still Hasn't Sent Ventilators Because It Hasn't Been Told Where To Send Them
Despite having committed to transferring 2,000 ventilators in military stocks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services to fight the coronavirus outbreak, the Pentagon has not shipped any of them because the agencies have not asked for them or provided a shipping location, the Pentagon's top logistics official said Tuesday. In order to ship the badly needed equipment, the Defense Department has to be given a location to send them by civilian authorities who have to decide where the items are most needed. (Starr and Cohen, 3/31)
Politico:
Trump Officials Tell Desperate Hospitals That Patients Can Share Ventilators
The Trump administration is telling hospitals they can split ventilators between two patients and is escalating calls to scrap elective surgeries, as federal officials try to limit care rationing in facilities lacking the critical breathing machines. New federal guidelines on so-called ventilator splitting — an idea that's been used extremely rarely in emergency situations — emphasizes it should "only be considered as an absolute last resort" for hospitals swamped by coronavirus patients. But it underscores concerns that hospitals could soon be faced with challenging ethical decisions about how to prioritize which patients receive life-saving equipment. (Roubein, 3/31)
The Washington Post:
New York City Hospitals Struggle With Life-Or-Death Decisions With Coronavirus Patients
In the chaos of New York City, where coronavirus deaths are mounting so quickly that freezer trucks have been set up as makeshift morgues, several hospitals have taken the unprecedented step of allowing doctors not to resuscitate people with covid-19 to avoid exposing health-care workers to the highly contagious virus. The shift is part of a flurry of changes besieged hospitals are making almost daily, including canceling all but the most urgent surgeries, forgoing the use of isolation rooms, and requiring infected health workers who no longer have a fever to show up to work before the end of the previously recommended 14-day self-isolation period. (Cha, Bernstein, Sellers and Harris, 3/31)
ABC News:
More Potential Coronavirus Shortages Come Into Focus: Ventilator Operators, Critical Drugs
As states sound the alarm over a lack of ventilators to help hospitalized novel coronavirus patients -- including a plea for 30,000 machines for New York state alone -- experts warned that even if the equipment arrives, facilities could face a shortage of health care workers trained to use them. "If you have a thousand more ventilators magically appear, do you have the 20 ICU [Intensive Care Unit] doctors, 300 ICU nurses, 150 respiratory therapists and all of the [personal protective equipment] needed to support those 1,000 new ventilators?" Dr. Doug White, an intensive care physician with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told ABC News. "Simply put, ventilators don’t run themselves." (Folmer, Siegel and Abdelmalek, 4/1)
The Hill:
Tesla Offers Ventilators Free Of Cost To Hospitals, Musk Says
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday the company would deliver FDA-approved ventilators to hospitals within the company’s delivery area. “We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. Will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Device & shipping cost are free. Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in a warehouse," Musk tweeted, requesting that inquiries be directed to himself and Tesla. (Budryk, 3/31)
