Coronavirus Wrongful Death Claim Headlines

A landmark White House move left states to secure medical equipment themselves, causing problems that still haven’t abated By Michael C. Bender and Rebecca Ballhaus The Wall Street Journal Sergio Melgar, the chief financial officer for the largest health-care system in central Massachusetts, was about to run out of medical-grade N95 masks. A Chinese company poised to replenish the supply wanted the money upfront. It was after midnight on March 20, too late to arrange a wire transfer. So Mr. Melgar took out his own credit card and authorized a $100,000 charge. “If I … [Read more...] about How Trump Sowed Covid Supply Chaos. ‘Try Getting It Yourselves.’

Trump acknowledges report that he played down the threat of the virus, calling himself a 'cheerleader.' The New York Times — Maggie Haberman and Michael Cooper President Trump acknowledged to the journalist Bob Woodward that he had knowingly played down the coronavirus earlier this year even though he was aware it was “deadly” and vastly more serious than the seasonal flu. “This is deadly stuff,” Mr. Trump said on Feb. 7 in one of a series of interviews Mr. Woodward conducted with the president for his upcoming book, “Rage.” The Washington … [Read more...] about Trump Called the Coronavirus ‘Deadly’ in Private While Minimizing Its Risks in Public, Book Reveals

Local leaders in Wuhan, consumed with domestic politics, did an end run around the Western-educated virologist whose agency was supposed to contain new contagious diseases By Jeremy Page and Lingling Wei BEIJING—Before going to bed, George Gao, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, typically completes his 10,000 steps for the day and then checks the news online. When he scanned his feed on Dec. 30, he was stunned. Two leaked local-government notices warned about cases of unexplained pneumonia in the Chinese megacity of Wuhan. It was the … [Read more...] about China’s CDC, Built to Stop Pandemics Like Covid, Stumbled When It Mattered Most

Slowing the coronavirus has been especially difficult for the United States because of its tradition of prioritizing individualism and missteps by the Trump administration. By David Leonhardt Nearly every country has struggled to contain the coronavirus and made mistakes along the way. China committed the first major failure, silencing doctors who tried to raise alarms about the virus and allowing it to escape from Wuhan. Much of Europe went next, failing to avoid enormous outbreaks. Today, many countries — Japan, Canada, France, Australia and more — are … [Read more...] about The Unique U.S. Failure to Control the Virus

The hasty expansion of medical facilities by state, city and hospital leaders led to grave mistakes, a Wall Street Journal investigation found; ‘wartime conditions’ By Shalini Ramachandran, Laura Kusisto and Katie Honan June 11, 2020 4:47 pm ET New York leaders faced an unanticipated crisis as the new coronavirus overwhelmed the nation’s largest city. Their response was marred by missed warning signs and policies that many health-care workers say put residents at greater risk and led to unnecessary deaths. In the first few days of March, Gov. Andrew … [Read more...] about How New York’s Coronavirus Response Made the Pandemic Worse