Ted S. Warren/AP Photo
A nurse at a drive-up COVID-19 testing station set up by the University of Washington Medical Center talks to a person arriving to be tested, March 13, 2020, in Seattle.
Weirdly, Trump declared a state of emergency—and then failed to use it to take the obvious steps his health officials have been begging for, to deal with the pandemic. The tools are there. The analogy is the kind of crash buildup that government pursues in wartime.
First, use contracting authority to have domestic manufacturers make products in short supply—face masks, ventilators, test kits, and other protective equipment for health workers. This is not rocket science. Under a 1910 law, government has the authority to waive patent rights and cut other red tape to sign contracts.
Second, go on a crash program to build backup field hospitals. If he can reprogram billions to build a wall, Trump can have the Army Corps of Engineers build field hospitals. Hospitals are close to capacity, even before being deluged with people sick with the virus. Tents in the parking lots of overwhelmed hospitals don’t do it.
Third, expand medical staff. Nurses are already under siege. Happily, there is a wonderful force of CNAs—certified nursing assistants. This is the mostly immigrant workforce who staff nursing homes and provide home care. In my experience, they are superb, underpaid, and underappreciated.
Experienced CNAs could take special training to help care for people with the virus, while new CNAs are trained to replace them. Along the way, we could give CNAs an overdue raise. SEIU is exploring this idea.
We should have begun such a three-part program two months ago, as soon as it was clear what was happening in China. We now have maybe two months more, before we turn into Italy. If Trump doesn’t get with this program, Congress should mandate it.
