by Kara Machowski
Wednesday, when the president was questioned about the low supply of masks and medical gear he stated that he hadn’t heard anything about masks in days. Thursday, the president's step-son, Jared Kushner, was present at the white house briefing (many wonder why) and confirmed that the federal stockpile of medical gear and masks were reserved for the federal government, not available for the states, and was very headstrong in this fact. Friday afternoon President Trump, along with a few coronavirus task force members including Dr. Brix, addressed the nation on the latest regarding Covid-19. Dr. Fauci was not present and was said by a source to have been excluded last minute.
"Its such a simple question and you make it sound so bad, you aught to be ashamed of yourself"
When President Trump was pressed by a female White House reporter asked "Jared Kushner said the notion of the federal stockpile was its supposed to be "our" stockpile, its not supposed to be state's stockpile that they then use, what did he mean by "our stockpile?" The president explained that it was America's stockpile that would be distributed to the states, but then clarified that they need it for the federal government and that they have 10,000 ventilators that they will eventually distribute to the country. He then said "Its such a simple question and you make it sound so bad, you aught to be ashamed of yourself", then when pressed again for clarification he said "you just asked your question and in a very nasty tone".
When another White House reporter a stated that New York confirmed that they would run through their stockpile of ventilators by the end of the weekend and was asked if the president could confirm that he would be able to get a supply to New York, the president simply answered “no”. He added that he was saving ventilators for other states who may need them. He went on to say that the federal government had done a lot for New York and that they should have ordered ventilators 3 years ago, a claim he has made previously. Which insinuates that Americans in New York are left to fend for themselves without ventilators by the negligence of their state.
"the stockpile is reserved for the federal government and that states would have to seek their own supply"
When the president was pressed regarding the federal stockpile of medical supplies like N95 masks, gloves and medical gear, he stated that the stockpile is reserved for the federal government and that states would have to seek their own supply. Again, leaving Americans ill-supplied along with nurses, doctors and senior veteran physicians who have come back to work to help. He went on to say that all states should have been supplied for the pandemic and the fact that they weren’t is their fault.
Republicans and Democrats are left scratching their head, wondering if perhaps the president misspoke, but he seemed so agitated and persistent on the matter we’re not sure. Still, there are so many questions that are left unanswered as to why the government would hoard medical supplies for themselves while in some states 20% of positive coronavirus patients are made up of medical workers who claim that they were not properly supplied with medical gear to protect themselves from the virus. Meanwhile nurses and physicians are contacting the illness and even dying, including one retired physician that volunteered to come back to work to help patients.
Comments