A bigger, more ominous question than just PPE is: WTH was the CDC and every branch/dept. of the US Government doing between the Wuhan lockdown on Jan 23rd and the POTUS Emergency Declaration on Mar 13?
7 friggin’ weeks of nothing other than a ban on travelers from China.
No preparation actions whatsoever, and it’s showing in spades.
This is the time period when actual containment was possible, at least up to March 1st.
I’m enraged by it.
Even us knobs on FR could see fire on the horizon, and impending chaos. And we’re not paid to look for or see this stuff.
But give the FluBros who STILL think we’re overreacting, I’m beginning to think that Trump felt that an early, strong, response would kill him politically. If people can’t deal with this stuff now, imagine them having to deal with it a month earlier.
(and yes, I know that the measures could have been lighter then...but if so, they would have had to become harsher, anyway, per what’s happened elsewhere)
“WTH was the CDC and every branch/dept. of the US Government doing between the Wuhan lockdown on Jan 23rd and the POTUS Emergency Declaration on Mar 13?”
Right?! They should have started buying and making ventilators and PPE at the very least.
Each new generational threat, along with every new shift of the technology curve - throughout the ages - creates a huge demand for solutions, and ushers in yet another rush phase of resources, specialists, education, training, career opportunities, etc.
I would expect that based on this experience, the US - and probably most countries - will elevate bio-terror from the semi-mysterious boogieman WMD class to very real, non extinction level national security threats that require real-time monitoring, detection systems, rapid response plans, multi-agency (fed/state/local) coordination charts, etc - the list goes on.
Then, detailed matrices cross-cutting geography, city/urban/suburban/rural impacts, age, health, environment, ... the variable and permutations are practically endless. I really see the CDC or some kind of equivalent essentially being militarized and charged with responsibility for the entire bio-threat detection/response/management process. Consider it bio-NORAD.
Ultimately, the proglibs have a point: how were we so unprepared? (Not Trump's fault - not anyone's really to this degree). But what the hell where CIA, DoD, and the rest doing? Detect/defend against nukes yes, chem yes, but bio? Waiting for the Russians to launch an obvious attack? No one seemed prepared for how this all went down. End result: Multi-trillion $ hit on US economy, suspension/possible compromise of civil liberties, the list goes on. Truly, an epic break-down on par (or exceeding) Pearl and/or 9/11.
When Trump is done, he will have so many legacy moments it will be hard to count them. Dealing with CV, and the subsequent elevation and re-org of how this country treats bio-terror, will be just one of them.
“Even us knobs on FR could see fire on the horizon, and impending chaos. And we’re not paid to look for or see this stuff.”
Not all of us. Some still deny it.
And I doubt any of those folks will ever admit they were wrong or apologize for the abuse they dished out over it.