The list of things we know the Trump administration did that have made the coronavirus pandemic worse just got longer by one. In early 2017, as part of Donald Trump’s drive to weaken regulations of every kind, the administration stopped work on a planned regulation to—drum roll, please—make sure the healthcare industry was prepared to fight an airborne infectious disease.
Work started on the planned regulation after dozens of healthcare workers got sick during the H1N1 pandemic. The plan was to come up with a similar set of protections for those healthcare workers against bloodborne diseases like HIV/AIDS—protections that help fight other bloodborne diseases like Ebola and hepatitis. But then Trump came in and said nah, there’s no reason to have a plan for enough personal protective equipment and other needs in case of an airborne virus pandemic.
“If that rule had gone into effect, then every hospital, every nursing home would essentially have to have a plan where they made sure they had enough respirators and they were prepared for this sort of pandemic,” the former head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) told NPR.
We all know how that went!
House Democrats have passed a similar infectious disease standard, but, as usual, Senate Republicans are not interested and Trump’s OSHA is opposed, with its head insisting that the existing standards for bloodborne pathogens are enough despite all evidence to the contrary. The hospital industry, too, is opposed to anything that’s a rule rather than a suggestion.
“You're right; they're not regulations, but they are the guidance that we want to follow,” the American Hospital Association’s Nancy Foster told NPR. “They set forth the expectation for infection control, so in a sense they're just like regulations.” Except for the part where they’re required rather than, y’know, nice if you want to do it.
In case you’re keeping track of all the warnings the Trump administration ignored and the preparedness measures it ended:
It never seems to end.