INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
In an announcement from the White House Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump said that he has announced an emergency declaration to free
up more federal resources that states can access as they respond to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
I am officially declaring a national
Two very big words,& said Trump.
The order also breaks some of the logjam that had stymied the ability of local and state healthcare
organizations to conduct testing for the novel coronavirus.
Typically the powers authorized in the Stafford Act are used to offer assistance
during terrorist attacks and natural disasters
During the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009, then-President Obama signed a national emergency declaration that allowed healthcare systems to
implement disaster plans in case they became overwhelmed.
That declaration allowed the Department of Health and Human Services to waive
certain regulatory requirements for healthcare facilities in response to the pandemic
Specifically, healthcare was able to submit waivers to establish alternate care sites and modify patient triage protocols, patient transfer
procedures and other actions when they implement disaster plans, according to a government statement at the time.
The Trump administration
had come under fire for not allowing states like California to access Medicaid in an effort to expand coverage
However, the authorization opens up state access to Medicaid more quickly than had happened under the Obama administration during its
response to the swine flu outbreak
President Obama waited until October to issue an emergency.
On Thursday, the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association
and the American Nurses Association jointly sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the Coronavirus Task Force, urging the
administration to issue an emergency declaration.
Now the president has responded with just such an initiative
In his Rose Garden address, the president also said he was &urging every state to set up emergency operation centers effective
immediately.
The president also praised the work being done by corporations like Roche, which has developed a new diagnostic tool to market
that can more quickly identify infections, and Google, which is bringing a new pre-screening website online that anyone can access to check
their symptoms and be directed to testing locations around the country.
FDA approves new coronavirus test that could speed rate of testing
up to tenfold
The emergency declaration also included waivers on interest payments for student loans and a bulk purchase of oil to stock
the oil reserve and bail out oil companies hit by the ongoing price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
We had some very old and obsolete
rules,& the president said of the regulations that have been circumvented by the executive order.
These rules will allow testing to ramp up
across the country in state labs and private facilities.
By using the Stafford Act, the president allows the Small Business Administration
to make disaster loans available to eligible businesses and households
It also will allow states to tap Medicaid to finance and expand their capabilities to respond to the spreading COVID-19 pandemic.
At the
same time the White House moved forward with an emergency declaration, it had stalled negotiations on the approval of a broad aid package
negotiated between Democratic and Republican leadership.
Democrats in the House of Representatives led by Nancy Pelosi negotiated with
United States Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House reps until 4 a.m
on Friday to come up with an agreement
Voting on the deal has been delayed as Republican leadership waits for approval from the White House, according to a report in Reuters.
The
House bill would provide free coronavirus testing and two weeks of paid sick leave for workers affected by the virus.
While the bill
doesn''t need the support of Republicans in the House, given the Democratic majority, without the support of Senate Republicans, who are in
the majority in that chamber, the bill would fail.
Additional economic aid is at the heart of the debate, with Democrats hoping to expand
coverage for workers who may not have access to corporate-funded safety nets and Republicans looking to provide tax cuts and financial
The president has called for a $1 trillion payroll tax cut, which isn''t supported by congressional membership in either party, according to
Reuters.
Stimulus is going to be a necessity if the United States is to withstand the economic blows a prolonged outbreak and botched
response could bring and calm nervous investors.
The financial markets and the coronavirus gave us advance warning
We really got a month notice on what was coming at us, and we just ignored it,& Claudia Sahm, a former Federal Reserve economist now at the
Washington Center for Equitable Growth, told Barrons
&They&re looking ahead and they&re scared
