2 months ‘wasted’ by gov’t

The federal government “wasted two months” in its coronavirus response, says former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, hindering efforts to boost supplies to battle coronavirus.

The feds waited until mid-March to start making bulk orders of ventilators, N95 respirator masks and other supplies for which leaders in New York and beyond have been pleading for, The Associated Press found in an analysis of federal purchasing contracts.

New York State passed the 1,000-person mark for positive COVID-19 cases on March 17, according to Health Department data. Nationwide, there were 5,722 confirmed cases at that point, according to the COVID Tracking Project, a number that skyrocketed to 305,755 as of Saturday afternoon. The Empire State has accounted for a large plurality of the cases.

Meanwhile, the national stockpile of emergency medical supplies is nearly depleted.

As China and Italy were overwhelmed with infected patients earlier this year, the feds could have seen a warning sign of things to come for the U.S.

But the White House has mostly placed the burden of finding supplies on states and localities.

“The notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile,” Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, said Thursday. “It’s not supposed to be state stockpiles that they then use.”

Governors, experts and a chorus of officials have slammed such statements, saying only the feds have the power to muster emergency supplies on a massive scale.

“States do not have the purchasing power of the federal government,” Sebelius (photo) said. “They do not have the ability to run a deficit like the federal government. They do not have the logistical power of the federal government.”