Who Did It? Then I'll Tell You How Outraged I am

In one NoCal hospital, nurses store their PPE in
marked paper bags for re-use. (Chron photo)

Given the nationwide shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment), this headline is another example of criminal neglect by the government:

"Coronavirus: 21 million N95 masks stockpiled. All are expired."

Actually, below is the real headline from the Chronicle (belated April Fool's) with three words restored:

Coronavirus: The state had 21 million N95 masks stockpiled. All are expired.

Credit to the Chronicle for pressing California agencies and Governor Newsom until they admitted the mistake. Also, it's quite refreshing to read a story that's devoid of outrage about government errors. (If it were President Trump's responsibility for the expired masks, would the tone be the same? This is an example of a rhetorical question.)

It's not so bad because the expired N95 masks can still be useful. Said John Balmes, a UCSF pulmonologist: [bold added]

“It would be nice to see the state purchasing new masks on a regular basis, but ... I think the expired masks should be distributed for protection of frontline health care workers to hospitals that are running out of non-expired N95s,” he said. “An expired N95 is very much more effective in protecting against SARS-CoV-2 infection than homemade cloth masks.”

It's also not so bad because we're really not out of masks. UCSF spokeswoman Kristen Bole:

“We have received expired masks from the state, but we are not refurbishing them at this time,” she said. “At the current time, we have an adequate supply of new N95s to meet our needs, at least for the time being, so we are reserving the state masks for backup use.”

Ditto from Kaiser Permanente:

“We are providing our staff with the protective equipment that is aligned with the latest science and guidance from public health authorities,” said Karl Sonkin, a Kaiser spokesman. “We are not providing expired masks to our medical staff. We would do so only if every other possible source of masks was exhausted.”

Here in California individual hospitals are responsible for their own purchasing decisions. They can judge best whether to stockpile items for wildfires (yes), earthquakes (yes), or tornados (no), with the State as backup.

In New York City it appears that the Federal Government, i.e.,President Trump, is responsible for shortages of ventilators, masks, and hospital beds. As of this writing NYC's deaths from COVID-19 are approximately 1,400, which is 27% of the U.S. death toll of 5,112. For perspective NYC comprises under 3% of the U.S. population.

You may resume your outrage.