Category Archives: healthcare

Trump Tells Governors to Seek Out Respirators on Their Own: Live Updates – The New York Times

President Trump told a group of governors Monday morning that they should not wait for the federal government to fill the growing demand for respirators needed to help people diagnosed with coronavirus. “Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves,” Mr. Trump told the governors during the conference call, a recording of which was shared with The New York Times. “We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.” The suggestion surprised some of the governors, who have been scrambling to contain the outbreak and are increasingly looking to the federal government for help with equipment, personnel and financial aid. Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, whose state is at the center of the domestic outbreak, and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico both reacted angrily to the administration’s slow response to the crisis.

Trump ‘offers large sums’ for exclusive access to coronavirus vaccine | US news | The Guardian

The German health minister Jens Spahn said that a takeover of the CureVac company by the Trump administration was “off the table”. CureVac would only develop vaccine “for the whole world”, Spahn said, “not for individual countries”.

Source: Trump ‘offers large sums’ for exclusive access to coronavirus vaccine | US news | The Guardian

‘He’s an idiot’: critics say Trump has failed the US in this test of reassurance | World news | The Guardian

Perhaps Trump’s greatest blunder was turning down the offer of a German-made diagnostic test approved by the World Health Organization and taken up by many countries. The US government’s own painfully slow progress led to a nationwide shortage of test kits at the most critical moment. It was reported that just 11,000 tests have been conducted in America so far, whereas South Korea is carrying out 10,000 tests per day.

Source: ‘He’s an idiot’: critics say Trump has failed the US in this test of reassurance | World news | The Guardian

Jack Ma Offers to Supply the US With Covid-19 Tests and Masks | WIRED

As the US government promises to ramp up more Covid-19 testing, an unlikely billionaire is offering to lend his help: Jack Ma, cofounder of the Chinese tech giant Alibaba. Ma’s philanthropic organization, the Jack Ma Foundation, said early Friday morning it would donate 500,000 Covid-19 testing kits and 1 million protective face masks to the US. The action comes after US health authorities have struggled for weeks to test people for the new coronavirus, falling far behind testing rates in other developed countries like Italy and South Korea.

Source: Jack Ma Offers to Supply the US With Covid-19 Tests and Masks | WIRED

Up to 10,000 infected with coronavirus in UK as Boris Johnson steps up response – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Ten years of gutting healthcare system ends up killing people

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson issues a stark warning to the nation, saying more lives will be lost, and the peak of infections may still be weeks away.

Source: Up to 10,000 infected with coronavirus in UK as Boris Johnson steps up response – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)