On Wednesday, President Trump announced that he will invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA), which would allow U.S. government to force American industry to manufacture medical supplies that are in short supply in the fight against the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
“There’s never been an instance like this where no matter what you have it’s not enough,” Trump said at a White House briefing with reporters. “If we need to use it, we’ll be using it at full speed ahead,” he said.
Hospitals are also sounding the alarm on the lack of ventilators, or breathing machines, that are expected to be in high demand as the coronavirus spreads in the coming weeks and months… The issue of supply shortages is likely to come up during the president’s discussions with nurses and doctors Wednesday… Of top concern to health workers in the U.S. is the shortage of N95 respirators, which are viewed as more effective at blocking viruses than the looser-fitting surgical masks.
“We’re going to defeat the invisible enemy,” said Trump, who said the unfolding crisis had basically made him a “wartime president.”
Trump said a hospital ship will be sent to hard-hit New York to help people affected by the contagion, and that a second hospital ship will be deployed on the West Coast.
The [Defense Production Act], which dates back to the Korean War of the 1950s, grants the president broad authority to “expedite and expand the supply of resources from the U.S. industrial base to support military, energy, space, and homeland security programs,” according to a summary on the Federal Emergency Management Agency website…
“We will be invoking the Defense Production Act just in case we need it,” said Trump.
MacDailyNews Take: Whatever it takes to make sure we have enough supplies and equipment.