According to a new documentary, the Trump Administration required state governments and other organizations to bid against each other, as if they were on eBay, to purchase personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic, reports Business Insider via MSN.
Instead of making bulk purchases and doling out supplies to states as needed, like a functioning federal government would do in a time of crisis, the Trump Administration helped to drive up the cost of foreign-manufactured PPE, increasing profits for the overseas companies.
“It’s like being on eBay with 50 other states,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is quoted saying at a press briefing on March 31.
On other occasions, state and local governments, as well as hospitals and aid organizations, found themselves outbid by the federal government. On at least one occasion, the federal government stepped in to stop the delivery of PPE to a hospital and confiscated the shipment.
The situation got so bad that republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan had to secretly negotiate with a South Korean manufacturer for COVID testing supplies, which where then flown to the state and stored in a secret warehouse guarded by state’s National Guard.
Trump largely left the states on their own in dealing with the shortage of PPE, which he blamed on the Obama Administration that had left office three years before. Nine months after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the United States, state agencies and hospitals still struggle with a PPE shortage.