California Dismantled Its Mobile Hospital System, Ventilator, Respirator Stockpiles in 2011

[NightHawkeye]

From the "Who you gonna blame now? files: California Dismantled Its Mobile Hospital System, Ventilator, Respirator Stockpiles in 2011

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti predicts that the City of Angels is less than a week away from reaching New York City levels of Wuhan coronavirus cases.
...
If Garcetti had access to three mobile 200-bed hospitals with ICU units and surgical suites, “50 million N95 respirators, 2,400 portable ventilators, and kits to set up 21,000 additional patient beds wherever they were needed,” he would probably feel a bit more prepared to handle the predicted onslaught.

California had such a system, implemented by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. Schwarzenegger was troubled by the suffering he saw along the Gulf coast after Katrina and was concerned about a possible bird flu pandemic. Knowing that devastating earthquakes and “wanted to prepare the state for future calamities.”
...
It was extremely shortsighted for Jerry Brown to eliminate a program with a minimal maintenance cost (a number of Democrats criticized the move at the time) but he wanted to stick a finger in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s eye – and now all Californians are going to pay the price.​

 

[MorkandMindy]

This is a remarkable tale, very relevant to this time when the elite and the media they own have done the classic 'divide and conquer' to the point where the public is polarized into Democrats (good) and Republicans (bad).

 

[MorkandMindy]

and through the human attributes of cognitive fluidity and cognitive dissonance each group fails to understand the other.

I explained a few days ago to a someone how (Republican) Ronald Reagan had made capitalism a lot more extreme and worse by adopting neoliberalism, how Bill Clinton had extended that lurch to the right with NAFTA allowing car factories among others to move from the US to Mexico

resulting in massive redundancies in Michigan, a crash in house prices, mortgage defaults and was a big factor in the 2008 (banks bailed out by a Republican) and 2009 (banks bailed out by a Democrat) financial crash,

and the planned extension to unlimited imports from East Asia (TPP etc) to end manufacturing in the US, moving even further to the right, planned by Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama (Democrats), then partially reversed by Donald Trump (Republican).

She rejected what I was saying as being 'completely wrong'.

 

[AvilaSurfer]

The OP is not possible. We all know this whole thing is Trump’s fault.

 

[MorkandMindy]

Trump also caused the rising ocean levels which breached the Bosporus in 6,800 BC, and flooding that submerged Doggerland producing the English Channel a few hundred years later

Now that he's around everything is so much easier to explain.

 

[grasping the after wind]

But Orange Man Bad!

 

[MorkandMindy]

Because he can be blamed for everything all of us are absolutely perfect!

 

[Kentonio]

Trump also caused the rising ocean levels which breached the Bosporus in 6,800 BC, and flooding that submerged Doggerland producing the English Channel a few hundred years later

Now that he's around everything is so much easier to explain.

You guys really do put a lot of effort into not holding him accountable for the things he actually does. It must be nice having so many people willing to give you a free pass on everything you do.

 

[MorkandMindy]

You guys really do put a lot of effort into not holding him accountable for the things he actually does. It must be nice having so many people willing to give you a free pass on everything you do.

That's what's so great about the two party system, anyone can do anything and half the public will support them, if someone does something good still half the public will oppose them, you can't score above or below 50% no matter what you do (well the actual number is around 43%)

 

[essentialsaltes]

Like everyone else, we Californians will have to make do with what we got and what we can get.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Like everyone else, we Californians will have to make do with what we got and what we can get.

Not only that, you guys just got bumped down to #4, both in cases and deaths. Go Michigan!

 

[essentialsaltes]

Not only that, you guys just got bumped down to #4, both in cases and deaths. Go Michigan!

Louisiana and the early leader Washington also have more deaths than CA.

It's not over by far, but early decisions in CA have made a difference. The dike may not hold forever, but if it holds long enough, that's the flattening that we need.

As a stingy liberal myself, I liked Jerry Brown's fiscal conservatism in dealing with our budgetary problems (which is what it was, unlike redstate.com's grotesque depiction of it as sticking it in Ahnold's eye -- honestly, who does that? "Arnie gonna cry now that his mobile hospitals have been terminated? Boohoo, and you can never be president, either.").

But obviously if you make cuts, you make cuts. Luckily, we still have permanent hospitals.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Better luck tomorrow, @Aryeh Jay

75,798 confirmed
New York US

18,696 confirmed
New Jersey US

8,077 confirmed
California US

7,615 confirmed
Michigan US

 

[Aryeh Jay]

Better luck tomorrow, @Aryeh Jay

75,798 confirmed
New York US

18,696 confirmed
New Jersey US

8,077 confirmed
California US

7,615 confirmed
Michigan US

Wow, I just went to cdph.ca.gov and they had yesterday’s numbers. 6932.

 

[MorkandMindy]

Jerry Brown backed out of providing treatment in the event of a big event, but it wasn't all his fault - the public was spending their money elsewhere.

How's that? Well the public always want their own personal doctor it seems, and will pay a bundle for their very own very inefficient healthcare provider.

But when Coronavirus hit how many ran to their personal doctor expecting a ventilator to be waiting?

No, they've been paying out to their private doctor but aren't willing to pay anything for care in the event of a disaster. So they shouldn't expect any.

Private care actually harms the overall medical capability of the nation.

 

[keith99]

Better luck tomorrow, @Aryeh Jay

75,798 confirmed
New York US

18,696 confirmed
New Jersey US

8,077 confirmed
California US

7,615 confirmed
Michigan US

But those other states have so many more people than California. Oh wait!

 

[Aryeh Jay]

But those other states have so many more people than California. Oh wait!

And we are still #3 in Deaths.

 

[rambot]

So a democrat was being fiscally prudent and conservatives jump on him because of the outcome 9years later. As though what's his name has not made cuts that have affected the outcomes nationally.

I wonder if conservatives will learn a lesson in spending money and being prepared....

Nah...Democrats bargle bargle!!

 

[NightHawkeye]

So a democrat was being fiscally prudent and conservatives jump on him because of the outcome 9years later. As though what's his name has not made cuts that have affected the outcomes nationally.

I wonder if conservatives will learn a lesson in spending money and being prepared....

Nah...Democrats bargle bargle!!

How is throwing away expensive disaster reserves "fiscally prudent"?

Some would call it simply IRRESPONSIBLE.

 

[essentialsaltes]

How is throwing away expensive disaster reserves "fiscally prudent"?

It wasn't thrown away.

Much of the medical equipment — including the ventilators, critical life-saving tools that are in short supply in the current pandemic — was given to local hospitals and health agencies, former health officials said. But the equipment was donated without any funding to maintain them. The respirators were allowed to expire without being replaced.

At its height, the state’s stockpile held more than 50 million N95 respirators, but without continued funding, that supply dwindled. Some were used during California’s wildfires and not replaced, and others went past their expiration date. As the coronavirus arrived in California, that supply was down to 21 million.

Eventually, the ventilators and much of the other medical equipment were given away — donated to county health departments and local hospitals, said Daniel Smiley, who was then chief deputy director in the emergency medical office.