Trump in recent days has repeatedly praised his administration’s efforts to deliver much-needed supplies to states, mobilize the private sector to develop faster tests for the coronavirus and stand up hospitals in hard-hit cities like New York — even as officials begged for additional resources like ventilators. In a briefing on Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the worst of the coronavirus had yet to come and that 253 people had died over a single day in the state.
White House aides insist no state will run out of ventilators in the next 72 hours — even as front-line health workers in New York City relay harrowing stories of overwhelmed emergency rooms, people dying alone and dire shortages of protective gear like masks and gowns.
Governors and local leaders, White House aides say, need to demonstrate to the Federal Emergency Management Agency that they have searched their own stockpiles, hospitals and cities first for these supplies, since the administration and FEMA have been inundated by requests. Aides feel like some local leaders are asking for a level of supplies they realistically do not need — a point the president himself has made.
But governors have complained openly that they’re stuck competing against each other, with many preferring a more coordinated national response. Former leaders who have sat in their seats say governors need to hear directions clearly outlined from the federal government to local officials.
“Looking at it from a distance, there is not a clear path as to how governors get medications and support services and where the federal government is actually acting,” said former Republican Gov. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. “They are not communicating it as to how you get the masks, how you get the ventilators. It appears to be communicated in an ad hoc manner rather than a publicly orchestrated manner. Communication has not been great to governors on where the rubber hits the road.”
In a briefing Monday, Trump himself delineated the federal response versus the local one.
“We are letting governors do, in their states, pretty much what they want with our supervision,” he told reporters in the Rose Garden. “And they consult with us in all cases. Some go further than others as you know. I could give you plenty of examples, but I am not going to do that because we never want to be controversial. But some of the governors have taken it further. People are questioning that. Staying at home with respect to what we are talking about doesn’t bother me at all. People should be staying at home. That’s what we want.”
The White House press office said in a statement that it is “outrageous that the media would speculate that the federal-state partnership is about somehow insulating the president. This is about saving lives and the Trump administration has been working with governors and their teams since January on COVID-19 coordination. Every level of government needs to deliver solutions and that is what we are doing in partnership,” deputy press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement.
Administration officials have grown particularly frustrated with Cuomo, whose televised briefings have drawn considerable attention and who some Democrats have positioned as a rival to Trump. One key sticking point is whether the White House has sent sufficient ventilators and other supplies to New York, which has emerged as an epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak. The Trump administration already has sent the state 4,000 ventilators, and the president said New York has been keeping extra ventilators in a New Jersey warehouse — a charge that Cuomo played down.
“That’s the first I’ve heard the warehouse was in New Jersey, funny way of delivering it to New York,” Cuomo said on CNN on Friday. “The ventilators are in a stockpile. They are not yet deployed because we do not need them yet,” he added, warning that he’s expecting the outbreak to peak in three weeks and that 30,000 total ventilators will be needed.
Three administration officials also argued that Cuomo could’ve moved faster to contain the coronavirus outbreak, noting that he initially dismissed the idea of a shelter-in-place idea for New York City, even as Mayor Bill de Blasio floated it and days after California officials pursued similar measures.
“I don’t think shelter in place really works for one locality,” Cuomo said on March 17, three days before he reversed course and issued a stay-at-home order for the state.
“People love [Cuomo] because he’s yelling at the federal government and sticking it to Trump — without realizing we wouldn’t be in this situation if he had taken it seriously in the first place,” said a senior administration official. “The administration has given him and New York everything they’ve asked for, to the extent it was actually immediately needed — they just haven’t distributed it efficiently.”
Source: politico.com
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