A simulation exercise run last year by an appointee of President Donald Trump found alarming gaps in the federal government's ability to respond to a global pandemic -- which the coronavirus has exploited to spread exponentially.
The "Crimson Contagion" exercise overseen by an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services from January to August 2019 found that participating states and agencies were plagued by confusion and infighting as they responded to an imaginary pandemic much like the one now spreading across the world, reported the New York Times.
“Exercise participants lacked clarity on federal interagency partners' roles and responsibilities during an influenza pandemic response," states the 63-page report issued in October.
The word "confusion" turns up over and over in the report.
Participants weren't sure who to target for national conference calls, and HHS officials taking part provided inconsistent and inaccurate guidance to health care providers.
There was confusion over travel restrictions and school closures -- just as there have been in response to the coronavirus just months later.
The exercise found bureaucratic chaos trying to address a shortage of antiviral medications, personal protective equipment and ventilators -- another scenario playing out now -- and the HHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency stepped on one another's toes, just as they've been doing in recent weeks.
Congress was briefed on some of these findings in December, just as the virus was emerging in China, and lawmakers and senior Trump administration officials were briefed on the novel coronavirus since January.
But the administration and the Centers for Disease Control have slow-walked testing as COVID-19 quietly spread across the country since the virus was first detected in January.
