From ABC News: Where has FEMA been during coronavirus response? “FEMA did not provide one concrete example of what the agency is doing to help.”
Update on March 21: A bit more information on the process. What a National Emergency Means for FEMA During COVID-19 Crisis
From the Wash Post: What lessons will we learn from the coronavirus crisis?
Interesting to contemplate what changes might occur and which ones might be permanent.
FEMA mobilizes to respond to coronavirus pandemic
From the WashPost: DHS inspector general’s office nearly dormant under Trump as reports and audits plummet.
The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog division has been so weakened under the Trump administration that it is failing to provide basic oversight of the government’s third-largest federal agency, according to whistleblowers and lawmakers from both parties.
DHS’s Office of the Inspector General is on pace to publish fewer than 40 audits and reports this fiscal year, the smallest number since 2003 and one-quarter of the agency’s output in 2016, when it published 143, records show. The audits and reports cover everything from contracts and spending to allegations of waste and misconduct.
At a time w hen DHS has morphed into an instrument for some of President Trump’s most ambitious domestic policies, the inspector general’s role calls for the office to exert rigorous oversight of the department’s $70 billion budget and 240,000 employees, Democratic and Republican lawmakers say.
From HSToday this Inforgraphic on Agency Responsibilities: Coronavirus Responsibilities: Which Agency Is Tasked with Doing What
From the NYTimes:‘It’s Totally Ad Hoc’: Why America’s Virus Response Looks Like a Patchwork. For centuries, the United States has resisted a centralized public health policy. This week, as protective measures against the coronavirus varied county to county
The United States, a nation founded on the notion of individual rights and limited federal power, vests key decisions on public health in state and local government. The last week laid bare a dizzying patchwork of local decision-making, as the largest quarantine in recent American history occurred in a juddering, piecemeal fashion.
Here is another take on the system: From the Guardian: America has no real public health system – coronavirus has a clear run, by Robert Reich. ” Trump’s response has been inadequate but the system is rigged anyway. As always, the poor will be hit hardest.”
As of March 13: This 6-page document: Twenty Things for Organizational Leaders to Know about COVID-19
Update: Here is FEMA’s explanation of the declaration, which provides additional support via the Stafford Act while the lead agency remains Dept. of HHS.
From USA Today: What is the Stafford Act? Trump’s emergency declaration provides funds, flexibility for state, local officials to deal with coronavirus
Recovery Diva 