njbill wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 6:12 pm
MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 5:17 pm
a fan wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 5:13 pm
tech37 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 4:51 pm
Yes, Trump's hopeful rhetoric to stem tide of panic here and support Xi there (others will say lies) but back channels sent tons of PPE to help China... guess someone listened to the security briefings.
For the record, I think it's great that Trump sent help to China. I hope we as a country always reach out with aid to those in need.
Yes, I realize that left us short. Hindsight.
If we'd stamped down on the accelerator to re-stock, identifying and resolving all the choke points in supplies, whether tests, PPE, ventilators, etc...of course help the front lines (China) in trying to slow it down. And then at each new front line as it flared.
If there was ever a basis for international cooperation and support, it's a global pandemic. Rapid response with all international resources brought to bear is what's needed in such a challenge.
We did this very successfully with the Ebola outbreak.
Stomped down on the accelerator. Well put.
Putting aside Trump's idiotic "this is no big deal" comments that went on way too long and his shutting down the White House pandemic team, had the administration acted proactively (similar to CA) instead of reactively (which he is still doing), I'm confident we'd be in a much better position today AND we'd be getting out of this much more quickly than we will, with fewer deaths and less strain on the health care system.
No excuse for not pulling out ALL the stops to manufacture masks, PPE, and ventilators in January. Had manufacturers been pushed to go 24/7 two and a half months ago, we'd be in a much better position now in terms of supplies. What is the worst that would have happened? We end up with too many of them? So what? It would have frightened people "too soon"? Too soon? Are you kidding me? Look, Trump isn't the only one who was a day late and a dollar short. How many questioned the Ivies when they canceled their season? But he is the guy in charge who had the best info at the earliest point in time.
Had Trump been a leader instead of acting solely out of his own political interests for way too long (it's obvious he is pushing as much as possible on the states so he can try to blame the governors (a child can see that)), key parts of the country would have shut down earlier. Weeks even days would have made a huge difference.
Trump failed to invoke and broadly apply the DPA, which has exacerbated the manufacturing problem. ORDER these companies what to do and how, and at what price. Don't rely on their goodwill. Yes, many have acted altruistically (see our afan), but others haven't and some need prodding.
Trump has failed to have the feds take over ALL ordering and delivery of supplies. Instead, as Cuomo says, the states are bidding against themselves like on Ebay. This is not only idiotic, but it will cost the American taxpaper billions of dollars.
Trump is also woefully behind the curve on testing. In January, he should have ordered (using the DPA) all relevant companies to manufacture test kits 24/7 and to develop new, better ones. Better and earlier testing would have paid huge dividends, and saved the lives of many of our heroic health care providers.
Now that a quick (5/15 min.) and accurate test (Abbott) has been developed, Trump should use the DPA to order Abbott to manufacture machines and test kits 24/7 (they may be already doing so) and to license other manufacturers to do the same.
There are 18,000 Abbott machines in the country per Birx yesterday. But the government doesn't know where they are. Trump should sign an executive order requiring anyone with a machine to advise HHS or whatever is the appropriate entity of the machines' whereabouts and other relevant details within 3/5/7 (?) days so the government knows where they are. With that info, we'll be able to determine where new machine need to go and where we have enough of them. From what I've seen, the machine is relatively easy to operate and probably would only require a minimal amount of instruction for a low level tech.
Abbott says they can manufacture 50,000 tests a day which I assume is their 24/7 capacity. That is a small drop in the bucket for what the country needs. Abbott needs to be ordered to give up the propriety info, etc. to other manufacturers so we can dramatically increase the number of these 5/15 tests.
This won't be early enough for the first wave, but wide-spread testing is critical to the "lull" (hopefully we have a lull) and second wave phases. Obviously the testing needs to start with health care providers, first responders, employees of essential businesses, etc., but we need to get to the point where everyone in the country can get a 5/15 test whenever they want it, with no symptoms or exposure. Just for peace of mind.
Otherwise, we'll be flying blind when the second wave hits and we'll inevitably see brush fires springing up that run the risk of turning into wild fires, which could put us right back where we are now.
What is Trump's plan for the second wave? Seems as though he's sticking his head in the sand and hoping that we'll be done with all this once we've through the first phase. We won't be. We have time, at least some time, to plan for phase two. What's the plan, Donald?
It does sound like antibody testing (to test to see if someone has had the disease and recovered) is moving ahead, but this also needs to go full throttle as it will be critical to determine who likely will be immune during phase two.