It is hard to learn, if you don't listen.
The federal gov't provides almost zero health care in this county. That instead is provided by private organizations, and then with things like emergencies & pandemics managed/organized at the county -multicounty level with state support. Counties and hospitals practice these drills. They, not the feds, obtain the gear that they feel they need.
The feds are typically brought in by the state/counties to provide a higher level of coordination and expertise when multiple counties and/or states are involved.
Having been through multiple epidemics or pandemics over the past 25 years in medicine here and overseas, which luckily all ended up being much less severe than predicted, I think that may have made the various levels of govt and private health care orgs somewhat complacent about our vulnerability to a real pandemic like this. But that is water under the bridge now.
I have never in my life seen such a robust nationwide effort by the feds in working with state and county health dept's and hospitals in trying to:
1) organize the response so that available supplies are utilized where most needed despite constantly changing conditions
2) be fluid and make decisions based on the available known facts on the ground, which are flawed and changing as we learn more about this
3) get private manufacturing companies involved in the effort despite that over the past 20 years much of our medical supply chain has moved overseas
4) And try to get out a message of guidance & hope to the public based upon the latest best advice, while having to deal with a dishonest, and often ignorant press more intent on creating chaos or confusion than helping to inform people.
Could things be better. Sure, things can always be improved in hindsight. But also, cost vs. benefit is always a consideration with preparation as well.
I don't agree with all of the politics of the WHO necessarily, but read their guidance on transmission for instance, if you think that our CDC is promoting hoaxes, or you have questions after listening to the media. You don't have to be a medical person to understand it.
I kind of get the feeling here that a lot of us want to be whiny little bitches a little more than critical thinkers or problem solvers.
There is no perfectly right answer to some of these decisions right now.
People are going to die regardless of what we do. Many would have died in the next 1-2 years without coronavirus. No one knows yet how many might be saved by flattening the curve.
No one, not even the all knowing modelers, really knows yet how many have already been infected by this.
I think medical professionals are used to seeing 65 year old people with COPD and heart disease die during flu season when the flu might have played some role in their death. Our system is set up to handle this. But they are not used to seeing healthy 25 year olds die of respiratory failure, even if the numbers are ultimately small, hopefully. And futhermore, our system is just not set up to care for a large influx all at once of these kinds of patients. But panicking because of these factors, doesn't help anyone.
I think Trump should continue on as President until the virus has been vanquished or another 4 years, whichever is longer!!! 
? Bill
