The Federal government excels at producing documents, in this case the head of the Executive Branch “looked the other way until it was too late.”
Assumptions (page 4):
1. Universal susceptibility and exposure will significantly degrade the timelines and efficiency of response efforts.
2 . A pandemic will last 18 months or longer and could include multiple waves of illness.
3. The spread and severity of COVID -19 will be difficult to forecast and characterize.
4 . Increasing COVID -19 suspected or confirmed cases in the U .S. will result in increased hospitalizations among at-risk individuals, straining the healthcare system .
5 . States will request federal assistance when requirements exceed state , local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) capabilities to respond to COVID - 19. This may include requests for assistance of HHS through the HHS Region based on the scope of assistance available through an emergency supplemental appropriation and may include additional assistance under the Stafford Act.
6 . Supply chain and transportation impacts due to ongoing COVID - 19 outbreak will likely result in significant shortages for government , private sector, and individual U.S. consumers .
As the federal response to COVID - 19 evolves beyond a public health and medical response , additional federal departments and agencies will be required to respond to the outbreak and secondary impacts , thereby increasing the need for coordination to ensure a unified, complete , and synchronized federal response.
int.nyt.com/...
Using plain language and accessible formats, provide timely messaging with a focus on foreshadowing potential mitigation measures in a manner to mitigate the risk of causing unnecessary alarm. Page 20, PanCAP Adapted U.S. Government COVID-19 Response Plan
Plain language and timely messaging by IMPOTUS*…
THREAD -- A timeline of Trump's coronavirus statements:
Jan. 22: "It's going to be just fine. We have it totally under control."
Jan. 24: "It will all work out well."
Jan. 30: "We think we have it very well under control."
Feb. 7: "… as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone."
Feb. 10: "I think the virus is going to be -- it's going to be fine."
Feb. 14: "... we’re in very good shape."
Feb. 19: "I think it's going to work out fine."
Feb. 24: "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA."
Feb. 25: "You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it ..."
Feb. 26: "Because of all we've done, the risk to the American people remains very low."
Feb. 28: "I think it's really going well."
Feb. 28: "It's going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear."
Feb. 28: "This is their new hoax."
March 4: "Some people will have this at a very light level and won't even go to a doctor or hospital, and they'll get better."
March 10: "... it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away."
March 11: "I think we're going to get through it very well."
March 12: "It's going to go away. ... The United States, because of what I did and what the administration did with China, we have 32 deaths at this point..."
March 15: "This is a very contagious virus. It's incredible. But it's something that we have tremendous control over."
March 16: "If you're talking about the virus, no, that's not under control for any place in the world."
March 17: "I've always known this is a, this is a real, this is a pandemic … I've felt that it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic."
WASHINGTON — For weeks, President Trump has minimized the coronavirus, mocked concern about it and treated the risk from it cavalierly. On Tuesday he took to the White House lectern and made a remarkable assertion: He knew it was a pandemic all along.
“This is a pandemic,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”
www.nytimes.com/...
1) Testing is not a panacea
There is understandable frustration and outrage that testing has been slow and often inaccessible in the US. But lack of testing has led some to miss the point of what tests can — and cannot — do.
A surge in people being tested could actually spread disease, because people can become infected by someone else waiting to be tested. Getting tested today is no guarantee you won’t get infected tomorrow — and may give you a false sense of security. Furthermore, emerging data suggests that testing of throat swabs may miss as many as two-thirds of infections.
[...]
The larger problem is not the limited value of testing of mildly ill patients. It’s the distraction from what’s most important. Just as the CDC was distracted from its core activities by cruise ships and dealing with repatriating travelers to the United States, the urge to test is distracting much of the US response from the actions that can save the most lives. Which brings me to the single most concerning error:
2) We’re not getting and disseminating answers to key epidemiological questions
This is the most important thing we’re not doing right now. There is so much we need to know in order to make better decisions about what to do. We need to know who is most likely to die from Covid-19. We know that older people and those with underlying health conditions are at greater risk. But we don’t know at what age risk actually increases. We don’t know which medical conditions may be riskier than others. Over 60? Over 80? Which underlying conditions? Controlled diabetes? Hypertension? On certain medications?...
3) We’re not preparing adequately for a surge in cases that could overwhelm our health care system
If there are too many cases at one time to allow effective care, patients who could be saved will die and infection will spread to patients and health care workers, as occurred in Wuhan, China, and in northern Italy. There’s a need for more protective equipment for health care workers, and we’ll need to explore use of newer technologies including reusable respirators.
Even though we have increased the number of ventilators in the Strategic National Stockpile severalfold, in a worst-case scenario, we wouldn’t have the hundreds of thousands we’d need. Every hospital needs to come up with a plan now to double or triple its intensive care capacity….
4) We’re not assessing the costs and health benefits of specific social distancing interventions
5) We’re not effectively communicating risk
6) Public health professionals at the CDC and elsewhere need to speak with the public every single day
7) Partisanship
www.vox.com/...