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Government Medicine United States

Trump Issues Order Under Defense Production Act To Secure More Ventilators (wsj.com) 180

President Trump moved to use the Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era national security mobilization law, to secure supplies companies need to make ventilators. From a report: "My order to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security will help domestic manufacturers like General Electric, Hill-Rom, Medtronic, ResMed, Royal Philips, and Vyaire Medical secure the supplies they need to build ventilators needed to defeat the virus," Mr. Trump said in statement that accompanied his order. He praised the companies and other domestic manufacturers for ramping up production of the machines and said the order "will save lives by removing obstacles in the supply chain that threaten the rapid production of ventilators."
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Trump Issues Order Under Defense Production Act To Secure More Ventilators

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  • by MyFirstNameIsPaul ( 1552283 ) on Thursday April 02, 2020 @03:08PM (#59902158) Journal
    Yeah! Seize the means of production!
    • by Rhipf ( 525263 )

      Could you point to where the Democrats (I assume that is who you mean by opponents) said to seize the means of production. They have been pressuring the President to implement the Defence Protection Act but that is what Trump just did so if they were asking to seize the means of production Trump just did.

      • Yes, but the Democrats wanted him to do it weeks ago. Not wait for Trump to give his donor friends time to plan so they'd be the ones chosen to do it. (And then, of course, overcharge the government for the service.)

      • Listen to the recent rants of Occasionally Coherent and Bernie...Well, I guess he really isn't a democrat.
  • by alvian ( 6203170 ) on Thursday April 02, 2020 @03:19PM (#59902196)
    I read news articles that many of the manufacturers are in the US but they had to service orders in EU and Asia first because Covid-19 hit them first and their orders were earlier than the US orders. If Trump freezes that flow, EU and Asian countries could start hoarding supplies for themselves instead of shipping them to the US.
  • No more off script (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bobm ( 53783 ) on Thursday April 02, 2020 @03:29PM (#59902240)

    I knew it was serious when Trump stopped going off script and just read what he was supposed to say.

    Sadly he seemed like a 7 year old when he would read in the most mono-tonal voice possible.

    I'm just curious who had the power to make him change his ways.

    • by gtall ( 79522 ) on Thursday April 02, 2020 @03:38PM (#59902266)

      "I'm just curious who had the power to make him change his ways.", the SARS-COV-2 virus (apparently, COVID-19 refers to the symptoms).

      The virus is Trump's worst nightmare. It isn't susceptible to bullshit, it doesn't care if you are white or black or an immigrant (like the ones harvesting food in the U.S. being now deemed essential workers...but he'll turn around and screw them when it lightens up).

      And the problem requires management skills above the level of the Ma and Pop operations he ran into the ground. It also requires a president have an attention span longer than a gnat's and the ability to grok scientific principles and reports.

      In short, he's screwed.

      • by klui ( 457783 )

        No. We're screwed.

        He's hasn't given all items requested from the stockpile from states he deemed "ungrateful" and "not nice" to him like New York and Michigan but gave everything asked to states who praise him like Florida. Then like he always does says without evidence nurses and doctors are hoarding ventilators and feels they don't need the items they claim they need.

        • What an idiotic statement.

          He doesnt decide who gets what. Task force does. The person in charge of supply is a Rear Admiral.

          They need to consider the needs, the daily usage, what the state already has in stock and what the progression of the virus and daily usage numbers are.

          If he listened to NY and gave them everything they demanded, there would be nothing left for the rest of the country.

          They need to keep equipement in the stockpile until its actually necessary to distribute, in the right quantities. Not

      • apparently, COVID-19 refers to the symptoms

        Technically it refers to the disease. But we don't talk in technicalities. We talk in common language and typically always about the disease rather than the underlying virus.

        We call it COVID-19 just like we call the seasonal flu influenza rather than saying "Sorry boss I have H3N2" and the common cold, that's the common cold rather than in some cases a variant of coronavirus (something a lot of people don't realise), and we refer to someone as having AIDS when they start showing symptoms of a HIV infection.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by OzPeter ( 195038 )

      Sadly he seemed like a 7 year old when he would read in the most mono-tonal voice possible.

      The best description I have heard of Trump reading a prepared speech is that he sounds like a school kid giving a book report for a book he hasn't read.

    • I knew it was serious when Trump stopped going off script and just read what he was supposed to say.

      Sadly he seemed like a 7 year old when he would read in the most mono-tonal voice possible.

      I'm just curious who had the power to make him change his ways.

      One of his friends got sick. I mean that's what he said, but he's taking things seriously now and calling republican governors to convince them to also, so it seems legit.

  • Well... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dark.nebulae ( 3950923 ) on Thursday April 02, 2020 @03:42PM (#59902274)

    He's only a month late and likely 100,000 lives short...

  • With Trucknuts.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday April 02, 2020 @04:02PM (#59902364)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by shess ( 31691 )

      Unpopular opinion and I fully intend to get downvoted for this: the Defense Production Act is not appropriate given the level of wage suppression in the US and wealth inequality.

      I mean, on the one hand, it could be used to poor ends.

      But, on the other hand, apparently it's already being used routinely:
      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/0... [nytimes.com]
      So far, it hasn't been used to these poor ends. But maybe there's a difference between it being used by the military in a mostly apolitical way (things like military spending ARE political, but that's at very high-level direction, whereas the routine uses haven't been at that level at all).

    • I appreciate your thoughts on the matter, and I largely agree, but I think the mobilization of our industrial sectors is necessary at this point, and worth the danger. I think we need to think in terms of mitigating this emergent issue and plan on dismantling the reign of Trump, afterwards. Now, I am a history buff and am aware that grabbing legislation is rarely rolled back following an emergency, but I think there will be a nearly vengeful elimination of Trump initiatives when Democrats come back to power
  • I have said it before and I will say it again, by the time these ventilators were made it will be too already late. The COVID epidemic would be largely over by the end of May, just like Trump said, but may not be in the way he had in mind.

    This virus spread to 10 times as many people in about 8-10 days, and the only countries that successfully contained it did one or both of two things: (1) lockdown, and/or (2) extensive testing and contact tracing. Testing and tracing was not an option for the US since the

  • If you're on a ventilator, you're already in very dangerous territory.

    Before we get to that stage, I think there are other methods, in addition to just social isolation, that we can reduce the risk of getting the virus. In particular, hot water salt-gargles can reduce viral load, at least your throat and tonsils, as well as remove infected cells in the throat. It can also help prevent pneumonia from secondary bacterial infections.

    Perhaps a device like this can also help: UVC Light Oral Device for Covid-19 [halfbakery.com].

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