On Mask Shortage, CBS IGNORES That Obama Depleted Supply and Never Restocked
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By Scott Whitlock | April 8, 2020 11:56 AM EDT
 In reporting on America facing a critical shortage of N95 masks during this global pandemic, wouldn’t it make sense to look at how that happened and why America is in this position? Not according to CBS. On Wednesday, CBS This Morning’s Dr. Jon LaPook somehow ignored the fact that Barack Obama depleted the supply of masks and never restocked. You’ll never guess who does get mentioned for blame. (Well, you probably will: Donald Trump.)
Co-host Tony Dokoupil introduced, “A Department of Health and Human Services report this week echoes urgent calls from hospitals for more supplies. One administrator cited a three to six-month delay for essential items, including those critical N95 face masks.” LaPook passively explained that the supply “is almost depleted” without going into how that happened:
A Department of Homeland Security official told CBS News the strategic national stockpile of protective gear is almost depleted. Last week, President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act ordering private companies to help manufacture ventilators and N95 face masks.
USA Today looked into the idea that the Obama administration could be at least partially to blame in an investigation headlined: “The claim: The Obama administration used and did not replenish the nation’s emergency stockpile of medical supplies, including N95 masks.”
The verdict?
 We rate this claim TRUE because it is supported by our research. There is no indication that the Obama administration took significant steps to replenish the supply of N95 masks in the Strategic National Stockpile after it was depleted from repeated crises. Calls for action came from experts at the time concerned for the country’s ability to respond to future serious pandemics. Such recommendations were, for whatever reason, not heeded.
As noted by the Daily Wire, Bloomberg News backed this up:
The national stockpile used to be somewhat more robust. In 2006, Congress provided supplemental funds to add 104 million N95 masks and 52 million surgical masks in an effort to prepare for a flu pandemic. But after the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009, which triggered a nationwide shortage of masks and caused a 2- to 3-year backlog orders for the N95 variety, the stockpile distributed about three-quarters of its inventory and didn’t build back the supply.
But of course, LaPook on CBS singled out Trump for blame:
Beth Cameron ran the White House Pandemic Response Office under the Obama and Trump administrations. It was dissolved by the White House in 2018, and she believes that move left the country less prepared.
That's not true, according to Tim Morrison, the former senior director for counterproliferation and biodefense on the National Security Council. He wrote in The Washington Post: “No, the White House didn’t ‘dissolve’ its pandemic response office. I was there.”
Other than missing one major point and getting another at least somewhat wrong, CBS did pretty good on Wednesday.
A transcript of the segment is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
4/8/2020
7:30
TONY DOKOUPIL: A D |
