The Washington Post reports:
In mid-March, a National Security Council team rushed to fix what they saw as a threat to the U.S. government’s ability to function amid the advancing pandemic: a lack of masks to protect enough staff on the White House complex. Alarmed by the small cache and the growing signs of an acute shortage of protective gear in the United States, a senior NSC official turned to a foreign government for help, according to people familiar with the situation.
The urgent appeal to Taiwan on March 14 highlights a stark conflict between the Trump administration’s stance then on the use of masks and the race behind the scenes to obtain them for key White House personnel. At the time, the U.S. government was discouraging the public from wearing masks, saying that healthy people didn’t need them and that the gear should be saved for front-line medical workers most at risk of infection.
Whoa. Read the full article. No paywall.
As Trump admin discouraged use of masks, White House was secretly securing a stockpile for itself. @CarolLeonnig @John_Hudson @lizzadwoskin https://t.co/nOheU1JaIl
— Greg Miller (@gregpmiller) April 15, 2020
As U.S. discouraged mask use for public, White House team raced to secure face coverings from Taiwan for senior staff, @CarolLeonnig @lizzadwoskin & @John_Hudson report https://t.co/wCx7bHynKR
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) April 15, 2020
Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!
They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!
https://t.co/UxZRwxxKL9— U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) February 29, 2020