[BostonCard]

Second, the boxed story is an almost horrifying story.  But the health provider received its PPE.  Maybe there is some grand conspiracy/blockade going on, but the part you highlighted doesn't show that . . . does it?



And BTW - and I'm in no way saying this is related to your story - but let me ask you this:  should there be any effort (state or federal) to try and ensure that PPEs are distributed in some equitable fashion to the end facilities?  Or should it just be first-come, first served?  Or whoever can pay the most, fastest?

I had a similar reaction as you did.  You would ideally want a concerted government response that would take hold of all acquisition and distribution of needed supplies. In fact, many governors bemoaned having to compete with other states to procure supplies. Ironically, this is one of the powers granted the government by the defense production act, though most people think of it as the government taking over production.  So, it is possible that this wasn't as problematic as is being portrayed.

The issue is that there is a massive trust and transparency gap going on. If this is what is happening, the government should just go out and publicly announce, from here on out that they are using the powers of the defense production act to take over all US acquisition and distribution of ventilators, PPE, etc. and here are the rules for allocating them to the states and hospital groups.  The transparency step, however, is key, and while it is missing, it is very easy to see why people are ascribing malign intent to the government.

BC

[BostonCard]

Second, the boxed story is an almost horrifying story.  But the health provider received its PPE.  Maybe there is some grand conspiracy/blockade going on, but the part you highlighted doesn't show that . . . does it?



And BTW - and I'm in no way saying this is related to your story - but let me ask you this:  should there be any effort (state or federal) to try and ensure that PPEs are distributed in some equitable fashion to the end facilities?  Or should it just be first-come, first served?  Or whoever can pay the most, fastest?

I had a similar reaction as you did.  You would ideally want a concerted government response that would take hold of all acquisition and distribution of needed supplies. In fact, many governors bemoaned having to compete with other states to procure supplies. Ironically, this is one of the powers granted the government by the defense production act, though most people think of it as the government taking over production.  So, it is possible that this wasn't as problematic as is being portrayed.

The issue is that there is a massive trust and transparency gap going on. If this is what is happening, the government should just go out and publicly announce, from here on out that they are using the powers of the defense production act to take over all US acquisition and distribution of ventilators, PPE, etc. and here are the rules for allocating them to the states and hospital groups.  The transparency step, however, is key, and while it is missing, it is very easy to see why people are ascribing malign intent to the government.

BC