- “Inside America’s mask crunch: A slow government reaction and an industry wary of liability” [Jeanne Whalen, Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger, Washington Post; Melissa Chen; earlier here, here, here, here, and here] “To Help Solve the Surgical Mask Shortage, Get the FDA out of the Way” [Paul Matzko, New York Daily News] “FDA Prevents Import of Masks” [Alex Tabarrok] Was the World Health Organization/Centers for Disease Control position that face masks don’t reduce transmission outside medical contexts meant as a noble lie? [Alex Nowrasteh; but see Scott Alexander (agencies declared against mask usage before shortages were an issue; my long Twitter thread advocating masks for all)]
- Its woeful mask advice aside, there’s little margin left for confidence in the World Health Organization [Jim Geraghty; Dan Blumenthal and Nick Eberstadt (“The very fact that truth-seekers are left counting urns is an indictment not only of the Beijing regime, but also of the WHO.”)]
- Defense Production Act, often imprecisely described in popular coverage, empowers federal government to get its orders placed first in line at suppliers [Christina Jewett and Lauren Weber, Kaiser Health News, earlier] Some federal sharp-elbowing: Bill Bowman, Franklin Reporter and Advocate (35,000 masks destined for Somerset County, N.J.); Richard Lough, Andreas Rinke, Reuters (supplies bound for Canada, Germany, Latin America); Alex Tabarrok and links; Nancy Asiamah, WWLP (3 million masks bound for Massachusetts); Sam Tabachnik, Denver Post (Colorado ventilators);
- Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci is the target of a writerly hit job and I contribute to its correction [Tim Carney, Washington Examiner]
- Comparative federalism: Germany, with relatively decentralized, competitive, and local health care arrangements, offers lessons in tackling the crisis [Rob Schmitz, NPR (no central government approval needed for new diagnostic tests); Kai Weiss, CapX]
- This is not going to help: “Hospital Liability for Ventilator Shortages” [Michael Abramowicz]
Filed under: COVID-19 virus, Germany, United Nations
2 Comments
I don’t think that Fauci has covered himself with glory in this crisis. He did not push the bureaucracy at all–maybe not “his job,” but whatever.
It’s easy to say, “Yeah, shut the country down.” He doesn’t have to care about all the pain and suffering left in that decision’s wake. He could at least acknowledge that missteps in the response, which are the fault of career bureaucrats (for example, the stiff-arming of Dr. Chu in Washington let community spread happen more than it otherwise would have) are the very things that are lengthening the shutdown. Level with the American people–but, of course, he won’t do that.
His maniacal insistence on double-blind trials is not helping matters, and he hasn’t pushed things like convalescent sera as hard as he could have. Also, his comment about not focusing on an anti-body test was tone-deaf at best and callous at worst.
As a country, we have been let down by these bureaucrats.
Further to my last:
https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/04/08/arturo-casadevall-blood-sera-profile/
Johns Hopkins asked for approval a month ago. Only now did FDA grant approval. How many patients will miss out on this due to the delay? This is Johns Hopkins. Approval should have been granted almost immediately.