“Governors plead for medical equipment from federal stockpile plagued by shortages and confusion.” That was a Washington Post headline. Similar articles and TV news stories have been painting a picture of an administration refusing to help governors and states, leaving critical gaps in their fight against COVID-19.
The unfortunate reality is that the more accurate headline “Governors ask for what they want, not what they need” won’t get that many clicks.
Yet that is what often underlies the disconnect between governors claiming to not have what they asked for, and Dr. Brix and other administration officials countering that they don’t have a shortage. Overlooked in this narrative is the tremendous disconnect between what states and local officials want and what they actually need. For example, after requesting 1,000 ventilators from the national stockpile and receiving 500, Washington state found they didn’t need them after all. They have since sent almost all of their federally-supplied ventilators to New York. Same with Oregon. Colorado officials requested 4.5 million masks. That’s nearly nine times as many as requested by Pennsylvania, a state with more than twice Colorado’s confirmed COVID-19 cases.
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