Governors and members of Congress are blaming the current administration for the lack of respiratory masks, ventilators, and test kits (for a virus that was unknown until late last year).
Blaming the current administration raises several questions for me.
If this virus occurred five years ago during the Obama administration, would there have been a surplus of these items – I think not?
There are multiple critical scenarios that can occur at any time. Why don’t the medical facilities have large inventories of masks and excess ventilators on hand for such emergencies? Were these facilities cutting inventory costs to save money rather than prepare for extreme emergencies? Why didn’t the states have emergency inventories of masks and ventilators to help in statewide emergencies?
Medical personnel are doing an excellent job of dealing with this virus but are hampered by the lack of required equipment due to actions of facility management, local government, state government and not just the federal government. To avoid the current crisis in the future, all organizations must do a better job of preparation.

— Tom Breneiser