The Past Is the Present

I've been posting about Trump administration's past failings in dealing with the coronavirus. Lots of people are saying the past doesn't matter, that it's important to work with the administration to alleviate as much of the future pain as possible.

Thankfully, I don't work with the Trump administration. I don't have to make those choices.

But. Trump hasn't changed. Oh, he says he's done calling the virus the "Chinese virus," a policy that led to a significant uptick in assaults on Asian Americans. But he's also still refusing to lead the country in ways that matter, leaving things up to states and even individual hospitals and health departments to suffer the consequences. Oh, and people. People suffer the consequences.

For example, we're way short on ventilators. The other day health care expert Andy Slavitt said that three kinds of people will die from the coronavirus: the elderly, people with underlying health problems, and... most of the deaths will come from young and otherwise healthy people who need ventilators and other medical interventions and won't receive them due to shortages.

So the Trump administration was about to announce a joint plan with GM and Ventec Life Systems to produce 80,000 ventilators. Upon finding out those ventilators would cost over a billion dollars, the Trumpies backed out.

A second case. Whenever he's in trouble or needs to get a message out, Trump goes on Hannity. Last night Trump chose to dump on Democratic governors, blaming them for the crisis. Along the way, he said, "I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators."

Wait a minute. The fool kept talking. "You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes they’ll have two ventilators, and now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’”

So here's problem one. Trump is still denying the severity of the crisis. During all his press conferences, have you ever once heard him name the numbers of cases and deaths from the previous day?

And problem two: he's using the pandemic not as a call for service but as a political weapon. On Hannity he rants on Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, who's complained that--you know Detroit is an emerging hot spot, right?--they're not getting enough help. And Governor Inslee of Washington, who has actually succeeded in bending the new cases curve.

Trump again: "We’re really a second line of attack. The first line of attack is supposed to be the hospitals and the local government and the states themselves.”

In other words, it's not my responsibility. Then why the actual fuck is he doing a couple of press conferences a day if it's not his responsibility?

By the way, it is absolutely the federal government's responsibility to lead a response to a national emergency. He just won't let that happen.

As for Whitmer? She says the federal government isn't helping nearly enough. In one instance

Whitmer recounted that the most recent delivery of masks, gowns, face shields and gloves from the federal government’s national strategic stockpile that was earmarked for a Michigan hospital on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis — in southeast Michigan — was woefully short of what is needed.

“With the exception of the gloves, that allotment is barely enough to cover one shift at that hospital,” Whitmer said. “Not even a whole day’s worth of shifts. One shift.”

It's so bad that Michigan Republicans are complaining along with. A bipartisan letter from Michigan members of Congress to Mike Pence begins by complaining that Michigan is doing all it can but it's getting enough federal help. They write: "Your assistance and engagement are urgently needed."

Confusion has arisen as both states and the federal government attempt to rapidly secure PPE and testing supplies. In this midst of this challenge, the federal government must ensure it communicates a clear chain of command to the states and utilize a data-driven prioritization process to address states' needs. 

Yesterday I listened to the press conference held by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. How comforting it was to hear serious leaders acknowledging the scope of the problem, being honest about the sacrifices it will take to overcome it, and being transparent concerning the Commonwealth's efforts to mitigate it.