Today, the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general’s office released a report surveying hospitals across the country to understand their experiences with the COVID-19 response thus far. Notably, the report found that hospitals found it difficult to keep up with evolving guidance from the CDC, and also how to get supplies from the national stockpile.

The findings that the Trump Administration is sowing chaos and confusion are unsurprising, considering just last week it came out that the Pentagon offered 2,000 ventilators to FEMA and HHS, but neither agency coordinating the crisis response gave the needed information to complete the deliveries; that FEMA officials knew in January that there wouldn’t be enough N95 masks for the response even as Trump was projecting confidence on January 22; and as the country faces down the prospect of an empty Strategic National Stockpile.

Accountable.US unearthed internal state and federal records showing that state governments are just as confused as hospitals. The internal documents show that officials dealing with Georgia’s COVID-19 response were frequently confused by the Trump Administration’s directives and lack of clarity about critical supply shipments.

Kyle Herrig, Accountable.US president, offered the following statement “The country is facing a once in a generation threat, and the front line fighters, our hospitals, not only have to deal with unprecedented need from the community but also a lack of clear, reliable support from the Trump Administration. In fact, this inspector general report suggests that the government’s shifting guidelines are creating unnecessary problems for hospitals as they try to do the day to day business of treating patients.”

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