当一月初新型冠状病毒爆发可能引发全球大流行时，特朗普政府浪费了将近两个月的本可用于增加联邦政府急需的医疗用品和设备储备的时间。
关于联邦采购合同的查阅显示，联邦机构基本上是等到3月中旬才开始批量订购N95呼吸口罩、机械呼吸机和前线医护人员所需的其他设备。
当时，多个州的医院在没有足够设备的情况下收治了数千名感染患者，并请求将国家战略储备拨运出来。联邦物资储备库是20多年前创建的，旨在帮助全国紧急情况期间弥补医疗和药品供应链中的不足。
现在，在危机发生三个月后，正当需要重症监护的病人数量激增之时联邦的储备却几乎耗尽了。一些州和地方官员报告说，他们收到的是破旧的呼吸机和老旧的烂口罩。
近一个月来，特朗普拒绝了库莫等人要求他根据《国防生产法》授权公司增加呼吸机和个人防护设备生产的呼吁。
特朗普上周终于松口表示他将命令公司增加关键物资的生产。那时，美国COVID-19确诊病例数量已经是世界上最多的。
特朗普在一月和二月淡化了新病毒的威胁。1月30日，当世界卫生组织将疫情宣布为全球公共卫生紧急事件时，特朗普向美国人民保证，病毒"得到了很好的控制"。
U.S. ‘wasted’ months before preparing for virus pandemic
As the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment.
A review of federal purchasing contracts shows that federal agencies largely waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line healthcare workers.
By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and were pleading for shipments from the Strategic National Stockpile. That federal cache of supplies was created more than 20 years ago to help bridge gaps in the medical and pharmaceutical supply chains during a national emergency.
Now, three months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained, just as the numbers of patients needing critical care is surging. Some state and local officials report receiving broken ventilators and decade-old rotted masks.
For nearly a month, Trump rebuffed calls from Cuomo and others to use his authority under the Defense Production Act to order companies to increase production of ventilators and personal protective equipment.
Trump finally relented last week, saying he will order companies to ramp up production of critical supplies. By then, the U.S. had the world’s highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Trump spent January and February playing down the threat from the new virus. As the World Health Organization on Jan. 30 declared the outbreak a global public health emergency, Trump assured the American people that the virus was “very well under control.”
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