These Three Statistics Sum Up Trump’s Failure on Critical Medical Supplies

The coronavirus is a rapidly developing news story, so some of the content in this article might be out of date. Check out our most recent coverage of the coronavirus crisis, and subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.

The distribution of personal protective equipment for medical professionals from the national stockpile was inept and insufficient, according to a House Oversight Committee report released Wednesday. The committee also found that the Strategic National Stockpile is now depleted, leaving states to compete with each other on the open market. 

This was the result of an accumulation of failures, said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, who chairs the House Oversight Committee. “The President failed to bring in FEMA early on, failed to name a national commander for this crisis, and failed to fully utilize the authorities Congress gave him under the Defense Production Act to procure and manage the distribution of critical supplies,” Maloney said. “He must take action now to address these deficiencies.”

If the PPE demands from state officials, GoFundMes, and desperate Facebook pleas from medical professionals weren’t enough for you, here are some salient numbers from the report:

Only 11.7 million N95 respirator masks have been distributed nationwide.

That’s just a fraction of a percent—one-third of 1 percent, to be exact—of the 3.5 billion respirator masks the Trump administration estimated would be necessary for medical providers during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 26 million surgical masks have also been distributed from the stockpile, but they do no provide adequate protection for frontline workers. 

Only 7,920 ventilators have been distributed. 

Though Trump has promised 100,000 ventilators, FEMA has said most of those additional ventilators won’t be available until at least late June. In the meantime, estimates for the number of ventilators needed ranges from slightly less than 150,000 to more than 750,000. The American Hospital Association has estimated that nearly 1 million American COVID-19 patients will need mechanical ventilation. 

90 percent of the federal stockpile has been depleted.

The US Department of Health and Human Services told Congress not to expect any more shipments—the remaining 10 percent is being reserved for federal workers. As Maloney put it: “Now that the national stockpile has been depleted of critical equipment, it appears that the Administration is leaving states to fend for themselves, to scour the open market for these scarce supplies, and to compete with each other and federal agencies in a chaotic, free-for-all bidding war.”

You can read the rest of the committee’s report here:

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate