Trump's daily briefings warned about COVID-19 at least a dozen times before the US outbreak, but he 'failed to register' the threat
Sonam Sheth 4/27/20 7 hours ago
* US intelligence officials warned President Donald Trump about the threat of the novel coronavirus in at least a dozen classified briefings in January and February, The Washington Post reported.
* The President's Daily Brief, or PDB, tracked the spread of the virus around the globe for weeks early this year and made clear China was concealing the extent of the outbreak within its borders.
* But Trump failed to register the threat.
* The president is known to regularly skip reading through the PDB and doesn't pay much attention even when the information is conveyed to him in oral summaries.
* The Post's is the latest in a series of media reports that show the extent to which officials sounded the alarm about an impending pandemic, which Trump largely ignored until US cases began surging in March.
US intelligence officials warned President Donald Trump about the threat of the novel corona virus in at least a dozen classified briefings in January and February, but he ignored the repeated warnings, The Washington Post reported.
Monday's development adds yet another layer to previous media reports that revealed the extent to which intelligence and administration officials sounded the alarm about an impending pandemic, which the president largely dismissed until US cases began surging in March.
According to The Post, the President's Daily Brief, or PDB, tracked the spread of the coronavirus around the world for weeks in January and February, and made clear that China was concealing the severity of the outbreak within its borders, where it first originated.
But despite the repeated warnings officials conveyed in the PDB, Trump "failed to register" the threat, The Post reported. The president is known to regularly skip reading through the PDB, and he reportedly doesn't have much patience even when the information is conveyed to him via oral summaries a few times per week.
By the end of January and beginning of February, a majority of the intelligence contained in Trump's daily briefings was about the corona virus, The Post reported last month.
At the same time that he was getting those briefings, the president was publicly downplaying the risk of the virus.
"The system was blinking red," one US official with access to the intelligence told The Post.
"Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were — they just couldn't get him to do anything about it."
Some of the warnings came even earlier. Days before Trump's inauguration, Obama administration officials briefed Trump officials on how to respond to a pandemic, Politico reported. The hypothetical scenario Obama officials presented to the incoming administration bore many similarities to the corona virus outbreak.
When asked whether any information from the session made its way to the president-elect, a former senior Trump administration official wasn't sure but said
hypotheticals like that were not "the kind of thing that really interested the president very much."
Politico also reported that the Trump administration declined to use a nearly 70-page pandemic playbook that the NSC's health unit put together under the Obama administration. The document instructed federal officials on how to prepare for many of the same obstacles the Trump administration is now facing, including medical equipment shortages and a lack of coordination.
Then, from January to August 2019, the HHS conducted a training simulation about a hypothetical pandemic, caused by a disease that bore striking parallels to the novel corona virus.
In the simulation, federal agencies fought over who was in charge, state officials and hospitals couldn't figure out what and how much medical equipment was available, and there was no centralized coordination on state lock downs and school closings.
The team conducting the simulation put together a draft report laying out the roadblocks they discovered in the exercises, but their warnings went unheeded, according to The New York Times.
The president spent the early weeks of the outbreak insisting there was nothing to worry about, and that warnings about a potential pandemic were a "hoax" meant to hurt his re-election bid and tank the stock market.
He appointed loyalists to head up the White House corona virus task force and instructed some public health officials not to discuss any more matters related to the virus with the public without prior clearance. The president also has a powerful ally in the right-wing media, which has largely echoed his messaging from the start.
As the number of corona virus cases in the US began ticking up and the death count increased, Trump acknowledged the problem but assured the public it would go away soon.
The president has also pushed unproven and dangerous theories for how to mitigate the crisis. At a corona virus briefing last week, for instance, he suggested Americans may inject themselves with household disinfectants to treat the disease. He also floated the idea of using UV light as a treatment.
White House officials decided to significantly scale back the number of daily briefings after the episode, and Trump cut back on taking reporters' questions.
The World Health Organization declared the corona virus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19, a pandemic on March 11, and the US is the global epicenter of the outbreak. As of Monday, there are 985,374 confirmed cases of the virus in the country, and 55,906 people have died after testing positive.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-c ... eat-2020-4
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FEMA Reportedly Took The 5 Million Masks Ordered For Veterans To Send To Stockpile
April 24, 2020
“I couldn’t tell you when my next delivery was coming in,” Veterans Health Administration manager complained to The Washington Post.
Five million face masks ordered by the Veterans Health Administration to protect staff at the department’s hospitals and clinics were taken by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the Strategic National Stockpile, a top official told The Washington Post.
“I had 5 million masks incoming that disappeared,” said Dr. Richard Stone, the executive in charge of managing the nation’s largest health care system with 1,255 facilities that serve more than 9 million veterans. He told the Post that FEMA instructed vendors with protective equipment ordered by the Veterans Administration to send the shipments instead to the stockpile.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — a Democrat who President Donald Trump has frequently targeted because of what he calls her “complaints” — revealed last month that vendors with whom her state had contracted for desperately needed medical equipment were told “not to send stuff,” on orders from the Trump administration.
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Several hospitals in seven states surveyed by the Los Angeles Times complained that FEMA officials were showing up unannounced and seizing their supplies, leaving them desperately short and uncertain about where to turn for more equipment.
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PeaceHealth, a 10-hospital system in Washington, Oregon and Alaska, had a shipment of testing supplies confiscated. “It’s incredibly frustrating,” CEO Richard DeCarlo told the newspaper.
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FEMA also seized 500 ventilators ordered by Colorado this month, according to state officials. Trump then restored 100 of them, apparently as an opportunity to give a shout out to GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, who’s in the middle of a tough reelection campaign in the state.
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Trump has ordered states to get their own supplies, but once the supplies are in the pipeline, they’re often seized by the federal government.
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Trump’s son-in-law, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner announced at a coronavirus press briefing early this month that the emergency stores were “our” stockpile — and not the states’. The website for the stockpile, however, pointedly said supplies were for the states. The site was quickly changed after Kushner spoke to conform with what he said.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fema-hij ... 5f9ece2bc3
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Barr to prosecutors: Look for unconstitutional virus rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.”
The memo to U.S. attorneys directs the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan to coordinate the department’s efforts to monitor state and local policies and take action if needed.
“If a state or local ordinance crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court....”
https://apnews.com/c76e764141179075244ecfd5f1bb5e19
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Trump's commencement speech is requiring 1,000 West Point cadets return to campus for graduation amid the coronavirus pandemic
* President Donald Trump recently announced he plans to move forward with delivering the commencement address in-person for this year's West Point graduation ceremony.
* The announcement stunned school officials and raised concerns about safety, the New York Times reported, given it requires recalling 1,000 cadets to the campus — located roughly an hour from New York City.
* Vice President Mike Pence last Saturday delivered the commencement address in person for 2020 graduates of the US Air Force Academy. The ceremony was scaled back significantly due to coronavirus.
* The US Naval Academy decided it was too dangerous to recall graduating midshipmen for this year's ceremony, opting to hold a virtual event instead.
President Donald Trump's recent announcement he'd be speaking at West Point's graduation ceremony stunned officials at the school and raised serious concerns about the safety of the 1,000 cadets who are being recalled as a result, The New York Times reported on Friday.
Universities across the US have sent students home due to the novel corona virus, which causes the disease COVID-19. West Point cadets were ordered to stay home at the end of their spring break in March as the corona virus outbreak in the US escalated.
The graduation ceremony had initially been postponed due to the corona virus pandemic, but Trump's April 17 announcement reportedly kicked planning for the event into gear.
"I'm doing it at West Point, which I look forward to," Trump said at the daily White House press briefing a little over a week ago. "I did it last year at Air Force, I did it at Annapolis, I did it at the Coast Guard Academy, and I'm doing it at West Point. And I assume they're — they've got it, and I understand they'll have distancing. They'll have some big distance, and so it'll be very different than it ever looked."
West Point officials were previously unaware Trump planned to move forward with the commencement address, now slated for June 13, which will mark his first graduation speech at the US military academy in New York state. The campus is roughly an hour from New York City, the epicenter of the corona virus pandemic in the US, which has the world's highest numbers of reported cases and fatalities.
"He's the commander in chief, that's his call," Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate and former chairwoman of the academy's Board of Visitors, said of the president. "Cadets are certainly excited about the opportunity to have something like the classic graduation, standing together, flinging their hats in the air."
But Fulton also said that "everyone is leery about bringing 1,000 cadets into the New York metropolitan area for a ceremony," adding, "It's definitely a risk."
White House officials told the Times that Trump left the decision up to school officials, and that he could potentially reassess the decision to participate closer to the date of the ceremony depending on the state of the coronavirus crisis in the US.
Last Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence delivered the commencement address in person for 2020 graduates of the US Air Force Academy, in which cadets wore face masks, marched six feet apart, and were placed in socially distanced seats (eight feet apart). The ceremony was closed to visitors, meaning no family members or other spectators were permitted to attend.
The West Point graduation will seemingly feature similar restrictions. In a statement released Wednesday, West Point said the ceremony "will look different from recent graduation ceremonies due to current force health protection requirements."
Meanwhile, the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, decided a traditional ceremony is too risky amid the corona virus pandemic and is instead set to hold a virtual event for its graduating midshipmen.
West Point officials did not return Business Insider's request for comment.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-f ... ech-2020-4
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New York’s Cuomo channels Dirty Harry in hitting Mitch McConnell over bankruptcy suggestion
April 25, 2020 By Ciara Linnane
‘You want to send a signal to the markets that this nation is in real trouble? You want to send an international message that the economy is in turmoil?’
Cuomo was asked by a reporter at his daily briefing on the corona virus pandemic to respond to McConnell’s comment that states, battered by steep declines in revenue during the crisis, should declare bankruptcy instead of seeking federal bailouts. Cuomo pointed out that states are not permitted to file for bankruptcy protection from creditors.
Financially distressed municipalities have recourse to Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code to protect them from creditors while they reorganize, much as companies can do under Chapter 11. But Chapter 9 does not apply to states, which are also not allowed to run budget deficits, as the federal government can and does.
“To the senator that proposed it, I say pass a law allowing states to declare bankruptcy. I dare you. And let the president sign that bill,” said Cuomo. “You want to send a signal to the markets that this nation is in real trouble? You want to send an international message that the economy is in turmoil? Do that.”
Cuomo also dismissed McConnell’s description of state aid as a “blue-state bailout.”
He noted that New York is the biggest net donor to federal coffers in the form of taxes sent to the federal government each year as compared with the amount the state gets back via federal spending.
McConnell’s home state of Kentucky is the third biggest taker from that same pot, Cuomo said.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-y ... 2020-04-24
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NBA’s LA Lakers got $4.6 million in corona virus federal loan money for small business, but repaid it
APR 27 2020
* The Los Angeles Lakers, one of the NBA’s richest franchises, applied for and received $4.6 million in federal loan aid earmarked for small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
* The Lakers returned that money after learning that the pool of federal lending assistance from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program had been drained of cash, the team said.
* Forbes recently ranked the Lakers second on its list of most valuable NBA teams, with a valuation of $4.4 billion, slightly behind the New York Knicks’ valuation of $4.6 billion. Lakers superstar LeBron James was due to earn more than $37 million for this current season.
The Los Angeles Lakers, one of the richest NBA franchises, applied for and received $4.6 million in federal loans earmarked for small businesses affected by the corona virus pandemic, the basketball team said Monday.
The Lakers have returned that money after learning that the pool of federal lending assistance from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program’s initial allotment of $350 billion had been drained of cash because of the huge demand for it, according to the franchise.
Forbes recently ranked the Lakers second on its list of most valuable NBA teams, with a valuation of $4.4 billion, slightly behind the New York Knicks’ valuation of $4.6 billion...
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/27/coronav ... -loan.html
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Promises to test JBS employees in Greeley for COVID-19 from White House, management not kept
JBS meatpacking plant scheduled to reopen Friday after four deaths, dozens of infections
By TONY KOVALESKI | The Denver Channel / April 22, 2020
DENVER -- Contact7 Investigates has confirmed promises from the White House and JBS management to provide testing for employees at the massive meatpacking plant in Greeley have not been kept.
The information uncovered by Contact7 Investigates comes just three days before the plant is scheduled to reopen after it was forced to close on April 10.
The state of Colorado confirmed on Tuesday that at least 102 JBS employees have tested positive for COVID-19. Those numbers follow reports of four deaths of employees and sources have told Contact7 Investigates that two other employees are currently on ventilators fighting for their lives.
The outbreak at the JBS plant in Greeley went national on April 10 when Vice President Mike Pence discussed the concerns during a White House briefing.
“I spoke today with the Governor of Colorado, Jerod Polis, about an outbreak at a particular meat packing plant in the Colorado area, said Mike Pence during the news briefing. "The JBS plant in Greeley is one of the nations top producers of meat. It employs more than 6,000 people who speak more than 30 different languages and the facility slaughters about 5,400 cattle per day."
A full eleven days ago, the Vice President, speaking at a White House briefing, acknowledged the JBS outbreak and promised to help.
“Our team is working with the governor to ensure that we flow testing resources," Pence said.
On that very same day, JBS management issued a statement — it was the day the plant was shut down by state and county health directors siting the outbreak. The state of Colorado’s department of public health announced a two-week closure of the meatpacking plant demanding testing of all employees and sanitizing of the plant.
The statement from JBS management began with the headline, “COVID-19 TESTS FOR GREELEY BEEF TEAM MEMBERS.” The statement also included: “We are investing more than $1 million in COVID-19 testing kits for our team members.”
Now less than a week from the scheduled reopening of the plant, promises from the White House and JBS management have not been kept...
“We can only assume the reason they stopped testing is they don't want the numbers to come out, it’s bad PR,” said Sylvia Martinez, a spokesperson for Latinos Unidos of Greeley.
Multiple informed sources confirmed to Contact7 Investigates that JBS management stopped testing shortly after it started doing so on April 11 and well before its promise to test its 6,000 employees.
Insiders have told Contact7 Investigates that between 40% and 80% of managers/supervisors tested positive on the initial day of testing and those results prompted JBS to end the testing program.
“I believe when it became apparent that most of the supervisors tested positive JBS abruptly stopped the testing," said JBS Union President Kim Cordova.
Concerns by employees, community leaders and the union president were brought to Colorado Governor Jared Polis during his briefing on Monday. Contact7 Investigates specifically asked Governor Polis what he knows about the testing at JBS, why it stopped and if he had heard claims that as many as 80% of managers have tested positive for the new virus.
“I have not heard any figure like 80%,” said Polis. "I believe it's a very alarming number, but to be clear I've not heard anything like 80% positive."
Colorado’s governor also verbally called out JBS management during his Monday news briefing.
“I think JBS should show more transparency through this process," he said.
His challenge to JBS leadership could be a reference to the company’s decisions to not disclose testing numbers and for not announcing why testing has concluded.
Polis added, “We hope it can reopen soon -- as soon in a way that is safe for workers." He continued, “meaning testing and, of course, meaning that social distancing takes place."
Polis also made reference to the Vice President’s April 10 promise to provide testing support for the JBS Greeley meat plant.
“I actually reiterated to the Vice President when I met him in Colorado Springs (this past weekend at the Air Force Academy graduation) the other day, (that) we need to receive additional testing to be able to support the work of Weld County," the governor said.
With the JBS plant currently scheduled to reopen on Friday, community leaders and the president of the union are demanding more testing and more action from JBS management before the plant is allowed to reopen. Union President Cordova reacted to the governor’s statement that positive test results at the plant were at “alarming” levels.
“I am not surprised,” Cordova said. “It confirms everything we have been hearing. I believe that plant was very infected."
Contact7 Investigates also asked Sylvia Martinez, the spokesperson for Latinos Unidos of Greeley, if the JBS plant should reopen on April 24 as scheduled. She responded, “absolutely not.”
Contact7 Investigates reached out to the Colorado Department of Public Health, the Weld County Department of Public Health and JBS management trying to confirm if the plant will open as scheduled on Friday or if it will be delayed. All three did not respond to our request for information.
https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/i ... t-not-kept
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Watch for symptoms
People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness.
Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms or combinations of symptoms may have COVID-19:
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Or at least two of these symptoms:
Fever
Chills
Repeated shaking with chills
Muscle pain
Headache
Sore throat
New loss of taste or smell
This list is not all inclusive. Please consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you.
When to Seek Medical Attention
If you have any of these emergency warning signs* for COVID-19 get medical attention immediately:
Trouble breathing
Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
New confusion or inability to arouse
Bluish lips or face
*This list is not all inclusive. Please consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you.
Call 911 if you have a medical emergency: Notify the operator that you have, or think you might have, COVID-19. If possible, put on a cloth face covering before medical help arrives.
STAY SAFE !!
