Trump Is One Cause of U.S. Shortage of PPE for Covid-19
Trump's Boondoggle
President Trump has claimed that Obama had emptied the shelves of PPE and other medical supplies during his time as president. That was one reason why there is a shortage of PPE now. While Trump cannot be blamed for ALL of the current shortage of medical supplies, credit must be given to him for a large part of the problem. He is an idiot.
Trump never believed that the pandemic of COVID-19 would ever hit America like it has. His ego would never allow it. He felt that with America protected by two oceans, somehow, Americans would be immune to a virus that he minimized and poked fun at. So, in this hilarious mind of his, he allowed tons of PPE and other medical supplies be sent to China in the early days of January and into February, even after he had stopped travel from hotspots. He thought this would be enough to prevent America from getting infected.
Just how much was sent?
In early February, the USA sent nearly 18 tons of PPE and other medical equipment to China! Trump, thinking that if he sent this there, it would help prevent it here. This was not all, Trump also sent the Chinese and other hotspots, millions of dollars in aid in hopes that it would stop the virus there and not here.
How much?
Over $100 million dollars was sent. All of this outgoing aid back in February was a forlorn hope. A naive leader not grasping the seriousness of COVID-19. Of course, hindsight is always 20\20. There were no cases in the USA in February, the first began in early March. By March 15, the spike of cases soared like a rocket heading into space causing much of America to stay at home.
But worse, in early February, the week that this aid was sent to China, the World Health Organization warned the Trump administration that there is and would be a severe shortage of PPE in the USA should the virus arrive here. It also claimed that the virus was already here on the west coast in very small numbers. Yet, Trump, scoffed at it all. This was true, as the first virus cases were reported in mid-January. This was well before Trump stopped Chinese from entering the country, although, he had been warned by the CDC and by the Chinese CDC. His delayed action on this issue allowed 14,000 Chinese travelers to enter the USA daily, not to mention those coming from hotspots in Europe.
To be fair, Trump was not the only naive leader to sent PPE to China. Canada sent them 16 tons of PPE around the same time! Now, China is selling much of it back to other hotspots, like Italy! Yes, they got the humanitarian aid free, and now reselling it for profit.
Despicable behavior from all of them.
