Thread by @PaulaChertok

🦠@AP: Federal agencies only began placing purchase orders for the stockpile of medical equipment in mid-MARCH—2 MONTHS AFTER first alarms sounded of a #coronavirus pandemic in EARLY JANUARY.

2 months wasted. How many deaths that didn’t have to be?
apne.ws/IivILYY

By mid-March—when feds began placing orders—hospitals in several states were treating 1000s of #COVID19 patients w/o adequate equipment & pleading for shipments from the Strategic Natl Stockpile; created 20+ yrs ago to bridge gaps in medical supply chains in a national emergency.

Trump’s #coronavirus response: Too little, too late, too rotten:

“Now, three months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients needing critical care is surging. [States] report receiving broken ventilators & decade-old dry-rotted masks.”

🤯😨Federal contracting records show the first HHS order for masks was on MARCH 12. The 2nd MARCH 21 contract didn’t even require beginning deliveries to the national stockpile until the END OF APRIL—AFTER the White House projected the #coronavirus pandemic will reach its peak.

The failures are so profound & endless:

HHS Asst Secy Kadlec told Congress 3/3/20: US needs 3.5 BILLION N-95 masks to get thru the #coronavirus pandemic, but we only had 35 MILLION—ONLY 1%.

🤯Amazingly, Kadlec flubbed the math. He actually said the stockpile had 10% (via @CNBC)

Trump not only didn’t replenish the stockpile, the admin depleted it…while assuring we didn’t need it:
😡Trump dropped “hoax” for “it’s very well under control”
😬Pence said #coronavirus risk to Americans was “low”
😟Pompeo sent 18 TONS of critical N95 masks & supplies to China