Trump Tweeted Insults Instead Of Addressing N95 Mask Emergency

WASHINGTON, D.C. – New reporting from POLITICO indicates that FEMA knew about the country’s deficient supply of N95 masks as early as mid-January. However, on January 22 President Trump said that the country had the coronavirus issue “under control.” Rather than focusing on the crisis, he used precious moments he could have used to prepare the country tweeting insults at his perceived congressional foes.

Now we are faced with medical providers who are tweeting desperately asking for more protective equipment as the country faces down the prospect of an empty Strategic National Stockpile and a June delivery of the 100,000 ventilators President Trump so confidently promised just days ago.

“The Trump administration once again fell down on the job. Instead of getting into gear and preparing the nation for an insidious threat, President Trump spent his time tweeting unrelated attacks at congressional leaders over perceived slights. We deserve better,” said Kyle Herrig, Accountable.US president.

KEY EXCERPT FROM POLITICO:

FEMA tells lawmakers most new ventilators won’t be ready until June

By Kyle Cheney, 04/02/2020

Most of the 100,000 ventilators that President Donald Trump promised the U.S. would obtain won’t be available until June, FEMA officials told the House Oversight Committee this week.

FEMA officials, according to a readout of a pair of briefings by the panel’s Democrats, indicated that a shortage of ventilators would worsen by the middle of this month before the coronavirus outbreak peaks. FEMA indicated there were just 9,500 ventilators in the national stockpile, with just 3,200 more expected by the week of April 13, the tail end of what Trump described recently as a “painful two weeks” as the outbreak is expected to worsen….

At the March 30 briefing, FEMA officials also acknowledged that they knew in mid-January that the supply of N95 respirator masks would fall short, according to the readout.

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