From the WashPost: Trump is breaking every rule in the CDC’s 450-page playbook for health crisis. The communication chaos on coronavirus is eroding the most powerful weapon we have: Public trust
How Not to Communicate
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Author Archives: recoverydiva
Confusion About FEMA’s Role
From CNN: Confusion and frustration still reign a week after FEMA takes over coronavirus response
A week after the government’s principal emergency response agency took the lead on the growing coronavirus pandemic, officials have been trying to catch up, hoping to streamline communication and sort out distribution to get necessary equipment to states pleading for help.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, is deploying its extensive experience in disaster response to coordinate the federal response. In doing so, the agency has come under mounting pressure to create an organized and efficient process, and get states and hospitals the medical supplies they need. Internally, that’s also led to confusion and irritation as FEMA tries to take the leading position.
Multiple sources said that there was frustration among employees within the agency over being brought into the coronavirus response too late, coupled with fear that FEMA would ultimately take the blame for the bungled response.
“Of course, there’s confusion. I mean, Jesus,” a FEMA employee said.
MITRE Report on Stopping COVID-19
Leadership in a Crisis
From HuffPost: ‘The Worst Type Of Leader To Have In A Crisis’. Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat has an urgent message during the coronavirus crisis: Authoritarians like Trump don’t care about human life. They care about power.
Job Vacancies and Inexperienced Personnel Causing Problems
From the WashPost: Job Vacancies and Inexperience Mar Federal Response to Coronavirus. Unfilled jobs and high turnover mean the government is ill equipped for a public health crisis, said many former and current federal officials and disaster experts.
One more of those facts that predictably spell trouble.
Article from Atlantic Monthly on COVID-19
This is a sobering account of the new virus: How the Pandemic Will End. The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out.
FEMA and Natural Disasters
From WashPost: FEMA Struggles With Sprawling Crisis as Season of Natural Disasters Lurks. And it threatens to swamp the agency.
From RAND and via Georgetown Journal of International Affairs: What Can FEMA Learn from the Historic 2017 Hurricane and Wildfire Seasons?
We Could Have Seen This Coming!
Article in TheGuardian: Trump Cuts Undermine Coronavirus Containment; Watchdog Report. Direct link to the report: An Embattled Landscape Series, Part 2a: Coronavirus and the Three-Year Trump Quest to Slash Science at the CDC
Here is another example of short-sightedness See this account from Politico: DHS wound down pandemic models before coronavirus struck. A vital modeling program was sidelined amid a bureaucratic battle, former officials say, leaving U.S. less prepared to face the virus.
Some Personal Effects of COVID-19
From TheConversation: 3 ways the coronavirus pandemic is changing who we are
Effects of COVID-10 on Businesses
Here is an article from fellow blogger, EricHoldeman in the Seattle, WA area:
Opinion: Tough times ahead for Seattle-area businesses. A key excerpt:
I am concerned that our existing national disaster response and recovery programs are not designed for a mega-event with the geographical distribution of this epidemic here in the United States. The programs are not scoped for this type of disaster that does not have physical damages, but more economic ones. Additionally, the number of people who administer disaster relief programs at the federal, state and local levels are relatively few in number. For example, the 2017 hurricane season, with three major hurricanes over a relatively small portion of the nation stretched the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the breaking point.
Recovery Diva 