In the Oval Office last week, @realDonaldTrump contradicted a nurse he was honoring: She said she’d been reusing an N95 mask for weeks and called PPE access ”sporadic.” "Sporadic for you,” Trump said. “I've heard the opposite.” #COVID19 cnn.com/videos/politic…
CDC made the decision despite mounting evidence the virus is airborne. Reveal’s @JenniferGollan and @ShogrenE found CDC’s decision was hotly contested in advance by safety experts. But “vociferous” lobbying by hospitals facing shortages was decisive. revealnews.org/article/31000-…
So far 31,000 U.S. health care workers have tested positive; 108 are dead. In Hong Kong, which has higher safety standards, only ONE health care worker had fallen ill as of late April with #COVID19. revealnews.org/article/31000-…
Terrified doctors and nurses are writing their wills. “They have the right to refuse to work in an unsafe environment,” said one workplace safety expert. “I don’t think the Hippocratic Oath says you should commit suicide.” revealnews.org/episodes/unpro…
Months into the #COVID19 crisis, hospitals still lack PPE. @RepKimSchrier, one member of Congress who wrote urging CDC to relax its guidelines, told Reveal, “Look, hindsight is 20/20. If we knew about the virus what we know now, I would not have necessarily written that letter.”
Former Ebola czar @RonaldKlain said CDC should have based its #COVID19 guidance on science, not shortages. “Doctors and nurses don’t have the gear they need. They’re entitled to it. They should have it. The federal government needs to take the leadership role in producing it.”
The Trump admin has used the Defense Production Act in small ways, like to prevent companies from exporting PPE—but has yet to aggressively use the law to boost production of N95s on a scale that could protect health care providers in 6,000 hospitals across the country.
Read the investigation we published this morning into the lack of PPE for healthcare workers: revealnews.org/article/31000-…
