Nurse Sandra Oldfield’s patient didn’t have the usual symptoms of COVID-19 -- yet. Kaiser Permanente had none for Oldfield. Instead, she was issued a less effective surgical mask, leaving her vulnerable to the deadly virus.
1 / 36Virus Outbreak Deadly ShortagesFILE - This Wednesday, May 13, 2020 file photo shows work stations in the Ford Rawsonville plant in Ypsilanti Township, Mich. An area of the plant was converted into a ventilator factory, as hospitals battling the coronavirus reported shortages of the life-saving devices. Nurse Sandra Oldfield’s patient didn’t have the usual symptoms of COVID-19 -- yet.
This catastrophic collapse was one of the country’s most consequential failures to control the virus. And it wasn’t unexpected: For decades, politicians and corporate officials ignored warnings about the risks associated with America’s overdependence on foreign manufacturing, and a lack of adequate preparation at home, the AP and “FRONTLINE” found.
The lack of early testing was a major stumble. First, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tests were faulty. Then there weren’t enough. The Food and Drug Administration raced to approve more tests, but without access to cheap, disposable swabs -- made almost entirely in Italy and now in very short supply -- they were useless. U.S. public health departments' worst fears were quickly realized.
“And these are unacceptable deaths, each of which could have been prevented if we had had adequate supply chains in place in advance of the pandemic,” said UC Berkeley Professor William Dow. He went to the White House and told President George W. Bush, who rolled out at $7.1 billion pandemic preparedness plan. Leavitt, a Republican, spent the next three years traveling to all 50 states, warning health officials to get ready by stockpiling six to eight weeks of masks, gloves and other supplies.
The AP and “FRONTLINE” spoke with members of the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump administrations who were responsible for pandemic preparedness. All said they had worried and warned about inadequate supply chains. But solutions were expensive, and neither Congress nor the White House made this a priority.
“There was not a lot of traction on the part of most of the people participating,” Lurie said. “One didn’t have the sense coming in that this was going to be high on the priority list.” “So many thousands of people have died needlessly, and it didn’t need to be this way,” she said. “But I think if I reflect on what’s going on here, this is an administration that had policies, procedures, tools, plans, checklists, advance warning, all of those things, and it appears to have used almost none of it.”
The story of their company, Prestige Ameritech, explains why the U.S. has failed to maintain a robust domestic medical supply manufacturing base. In 2014, a confidential presentation obtained by the AP and “FRONTLINE” from HHS warned that the U.S. supply of medical masks was “nearly exhausted” and that 5.3 billion would be needed in a pandemic.
“I felt that the government was intentionally misleading the people because they had not prepared as they should have, and the products are not available,” said Reese. Experts agree that one solution is a massive investment in U.S. manufacturing that not only allows existing companies to expand, but guarantees a long-term market for medical supplies that are more expensive than those made by Asian competitors. There is no sign that this is going to happen.
“At some point I had the thought, how is it that we can’t get more? Like, why? Why?” he said. “In life, when you run out, you just get more.” It would be many weeks before China’s exports resumed. Meanwhile, the U.S. needed billions of N95 masks that simply weren’t available. “All of it was counterfeit, as defined by OSHA’s definition of counterfeit or fraudulently labeled,” said Clapp. Every mask. Some were less than 50% effective, about the same as a cotton T-shirt.The warnings of looming and potentially deadly supply shortages from the White House began confidentially in February when White House trade adviser Peter Navarro wrote to the COVID-19 task force, urging the administration to halt exports and ramp up production of N95 masks.
“Why any individual hospital would choose to have a nurse or doctor reuse a mask today ... I can’t reconcile that for you,” he said. At the Republican National Convention in August, Trump stood before the White House and declared, “Over the next four years, we will make America into the manufacturing superpower of the world. We will … bring home our medical supply chains, and we will end our reliance on China once and for all.”
Now the Trump administration says needles and syringes are on order, but details of the contracts are shrouded in secrecy. AP and “FRONTLINE” learned that the largest has gone to a company making a device that has not yet been cleared by the FDA, according to its own website. Another firm only incorporated in May, and has never before had a government contract nor imported needles and syringes. A third contractor in August reported disruptions in its overseas supply chain.
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