April 2, 2020--Cuomo Time

Anyone paying attention knows what Donald Trump did and didn't do to make the COVID-19 pandemic much worse than it would have been if a more competent and compassionate president had been leading the fight to contain it.

We know he sacked most government workers who had expertise about pandemics, claiming they weren't necessary because, grandiosely, he knew all that was needed to take on global epidemics.  

We know that when he could no longer ignore the signs that a pandemic was heading our way he tried to get away with happy talking Americans to distraction, telling then he was on top of things and very soon it would miraculously disappear.

All the while a number of governors, New York's Andrew Cuomo most prominently, were begging for help with supplies, medical equipment, and protective masks and gowns.

To many, Trump was the villain and the governors were adulated, especially Cuomo who has been so visibly on the case that a number of leading Democrats are hoping that a way can be found to nominate him to run against Trump.

I wish that Trump would disappear from the scene later this afternoon. Actually, in half an hour. 

But is it accurate to blame the failed response to the coronavirus to only Trump and his administration?

My view is it's worse than that--there is much more blame to spread around that it even includes governors such as Andrew Cuomo. 

The entire health care system is to blame: presidents, governors, mayors, and especially hospital and health care administrators. Administrators, not the galant staffs.

The federal government, even a competent one, is not exclusively responsible for assuring that hospitals are adequately equipped to take on medical emergencies. 

Do we expect the federal government to be in charge of hospitals' supply of scrubs, face masks, and sterile gloves? Should we expect the central government to make and store enough ventilators to handle everything heath care workers and institutions require to confront an emergency?

There are of course things that the government is best able to do. For example, deploy hospital ships and field hospitals. And perhaps top off emergency supplies when state resources are overwhelmed as they now are.

Isn't it reasonable to expect individual hospitals and state systems to stock at least 50 percent of the supplies and equipment needed to handle a crisis?

Listening to governor Cuomo and his colleagues it sounds as if they see this to be a federal responsibility. That perhaps FEMA should be in charge of it.

This is not the way our health care system is organized. Perhaps it should be. It is not centrally organized and controlled. I suspect Bernie Sanders would make the case that it should be, but to me, when faced with a pandemic, the buck stops a number of places.