COVID19 Update - Day 26

US Tests: 1,762,032
US Cases: 332,308
US Deaths: 9,498
Worldwide Cases: 1,273,990
Worldwide Deaths: 69,444

Another day, and yet more proof of the Trump administration's incompetence:

A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.

By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and were pleading for shipments from the Strategic National Stockpile. That federal cache of supplies was created more than 20 years ago to help bridge gaps in the medical and pharmaceutical supply chains during a national emergency.

Now, three months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients needing critical care is surging. Some state and local officials report receiving broken ventilators and decade-old dry-rotted masks.

“We basically wasted two months,” Kathleen Sebelius, health and human services secretary during the Obama administration, told AP.

And of course, there's this gem, which will live on in history books for the next century, at least:

Trump and his appointees have urged state and local governments, and hospitals, to buy their own masks and breathing machines, saying requests to the dwindling national stockpile should be a last resort.

“The notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile,” Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, said at a White House briefing Thursday. “It’s not supposed to be state stockpiles that they then use.”

This is a neat trick.  There's a national emergency, there's a desperate need for masks, gowns and ventilators --- but for some reason, Trump and Kushner aren't going to distribute those items to the people who need them because it's 'our' stockpile.

Spend some time ruminating on what Kushner could possibly mean by that.

And even when Trump gets something right, he gets it wrong.  For example, it seemed like the one good decision he's made through this whole disaster was to close off travel from China, when the virus was still mainly only affecting people in Wuhan.  Well, guess what:

Since Chinese officials disclosed the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonialike illness to international health officials on New Year’s Eve, at least 430,000 people have arrived in the United States on direct flights from China, including nearly 40,000 in the two months after President Trump imposed restrictions on such travel, according to an analysis of data collected in both countries.

The bulk of the passengers, who were of multiple nationalities, arrived in January, at airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Newark and Detroit. Thousands of them flew directly from Wuhan, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, as American public health officials were only beginning to assess the risks to the United States.

It seems that Trump's China 'travel ban' was actually an example of fake news, to borrow a phrase.  And it doesn't stop there:

State labs are scrambling to get their hands on a new in-demand coronavirus test that can find a positive result in “as little as five minutes.” But the federal government has planned to order it in quantities far below what would be needed to achieve widespread testing, according to emails obtained by BuzzFeed News.

. . .

According to the spreadsheet, all 50 state health departments, as well as some local health departments, would each receive 10 to 15 devices for a total of 780 devices distributed nationwide. Each lab would also be receiving 100 coronavirus tests — a total of 5,500 tests across the country. The document was first reported by Kaiser Health News.

Anything that can increase the number of tests given is a good thing.  And it's great that Trump is actually coordinating the delivery of testing devices and tests (in stark contrast to their hands-off, 'let the states fight it out' policy they've adopted with every other aspect of the pandemic).

But --- why only 10 to 15 test devices per state?  It's like they want to be able to say they done something to fix the problem, while barely doing anything to fix the problem.

It's baffling.

In personal news --- I went shopping again today, for the first time in 2 weeks.  And per the new CDC recommendations, I covered my face:

 Here I am, ready to play cops and robbers go grocery shopping in the age of COVID19.

Shopping actually went surprisingly well.  Costco even had some toilet paper available, so I bought the smallest possible package.  Being Costco, the smallest possible package is 30 rolls.  I offered to give some to my ex-wife and my neighbors, but surprisingly, no one needed any!  So I think I'm set for toilet paper until this is over.

Then this afternoon, I spent 3 hours on a Zoom call with some other alumni from my college.

And finally tonight, my kids surprised me by coming over and making dinner.  So, a lot more human interaction than I counted on.

And now, back into solitary until my kids come to see me next weekend.