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Comment by onetimemanytime | Hacker News Reader

In theory it makes sense: Hospital in New Mexico has 2 million masks, while in NY they have none. Being an emergency that can and should be done. I said in theory...

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Why not in practice? One of the positive features of this pandemic is that the infection is peaking at different times across cities. That means it should be possible to surge PPE/ventilators/personnel to the hot spots, and shift those resources over time.

Anyone who disagrees with this strategy should suggest an alternative. Allowing life-saving supplies to sit unused in hospital stockpiles while people die seems like a pretty stupid alternative.

Hotspots are not getting excess of supplies. The stuff goes to places politically aligned with president.

The same federal government that said few days ago that "The notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile. It’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use"

The same federal government that claimed governors should find their own supplies.

The same federal government that gives masks to private companies and then have countries outbid each other for them.

> The stuff goes to places politically aligned with president.

Not even. It is going in to HHS/FEMA warehouses where "vetted" medical suppliers can buy the inventory at wholesale rates and resell it to hospitals at market rate. A prominent GOP fundraiser just quit his day job to start a company named Blue Flame that within a week was on this coveted list.

Edit: I found a good Reddit comment that lays it all out with sources: https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/fwu2m0/hospitals_...

> The stuff goes to places politically aligned with president.

Do you have a source for this? The article here doesn't say where the stuff is going.

You're espousing an unfounded conspiracy theory based on a very forced interpretation of one person's offhanded remark.

Instantly disprovable with facts:

1. NY is not politically aligned with Trump in the least. They have received a huge amount of federal support.

2. Los Angeles is not politically aligned with Trump, they have also received significant federal support.

This kind of intellectual dishonesty among the anti-Trump is as shocking as Trump's own level of intellectual dishonesty.

Nothing about that person is intellectual, all about gaslighting and fear-driven policing.

I agree with this strategy but I don't agree with the whole idea of "if you don't agree with something you should suggest an alternative solution." Telling everyone they're about to fly over the side of a cliff is a great contribution and dissuading people from making that contribution despite not having an immediate solution is really problematic. I have unfortunately seen too many cases where people aren't willing to step back and reconsider their situation because they are too committed to the first solution they came up with and moving full speed ahead is the only thing they see as an option unless there is an immediately available alternative.

Because the way the Fed is doing this is by giving the PPE to private contractors who then distribute to the highest bidder, not the hot spots or the most in need. The alternative is having FEMA distribute, an agency which is highly experienced in moving aid quickly by now.

Mind linking, that sounds terrible.

Presumably you could just ask them for it then, and seize it as a last resort and explain why. There's no reason to take it without explanation.

It follows logically from past behaviour and statements of that administration. The weaponization of demagoguery should be of higher concern than this pandemic.

The problem is that, in practice, they're a lot closer to doing the exact opposite. California needs those masks. Massachusetts needs those masks. They're not hoarding masks that would be better used elsewhere. Seizing those masks and then turning them over to private distributors for sale to the highest bidder (who could be the ones who paid for them the first time because they're desperate) doesn't make sense in any context where those in charge of the operation are anything but sociopaths. Wouldn't be surprised if they follow up by looting the graves of those they killed to get jewelry and fillings.

As long as the place they are procuring them from is replenished.

THEY ARE TAKING THEM FROM WHERE THEY ARE NEEDED. STATES ARE RELYING ON FOOTBALL TEAMS TO SMUGGLE MASKS IN SO THE FEDS CANT STEAL THEM.

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