Bill de Blasio: The United States Should Be ‘Put on a War Footing’ to Tackle Coronavirus

EXCERPT:

DE BLASIO: "Mika, that’s what I fear. Right now, we need a national solution. This should be a reality where the United States is put on a war footing, where the federal government mobilizes all the resources necessary, and it begins with testing. I agree with you, testing to make sure health care workers are safe, to focus on our most vulnerable individuals, to make sure we can protect them. Ultimately, I would love to see a broader testing approach as was done in South Korea, as a strategic tool to help eventually end this epidemic. But right now, here’s what I’m most concerned about, exactly where you were going, the hospitals. We’re going to have to set up emergency ICUs in hospitals not only all over New York City, all over America. We’re going to need the United States military to come in with their substantial logistical and medical capacity. We’re going to need the supply chain nationalized in some form. Right now there’s no effort to make sure that ventilators, surgical masks, even down to hand sanitizer, all these products should be put on a 24/7 production cycle. Whatever factories, anywhere, can make them, should be cranking them out. They should be distributed for federal priority, as you would in a war."

(via Contemptor)