Talk about burying the lede. This is buried 20 paragraphs into a scathing report on the shortage of protective hospital masks meant to President Donald Trump.
(Bloomberg) The national stockpile used to be somewhat more robust. In 2006, Congress provided supplemental funds to add 104 million N95 masks and 52 million surgical masks in an effort to prepare for a flu pandemic. But after the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009, which triggered a nationwide shortage of masks and caused a 2- to 3-year backlog orders for the N95 variety, the stockpile distributed about three-quarters of its inventory and didn’t build back the supply.
The owner of this operation, Michael Bloomberg had committed to spending a billion or more dollars to defeat President Trump in 2020. He already spent nearly that amount funding his own failed campaign.
The Los Angeles Times also reported that the leader of the Democratic Party had seven years to replenish the live-saving masks… but didn’t.
In 2005, the administration of President George W. Bush published a landmark “National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza.” The document, among other things, highlighted the need for plans to distribute necessary medical supplies from the nation’s Strategic National Stockpile and to support state and local efforts to “surge” medical personnel and facilities to handle an outbreak.
David Adams