Why don't we have gloves and masks?

Its an interesting question, isn't it? Given the unholy amount of money the federal governments of Canada and the USA spend every single year, you would think they'd keep their emergency stuff topped up. Well, now we find out, they didn't.

Canada.

I'm talking about the federal government failing to ensure sufficient supplies of masks, gloves and other material in the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile.

The stockpile "contains supplies that provinces and territories can request in emergencies, such as infectious disease outbreaks, natural disasters and other public health events, when their own resources are not enough."

...

The system worked in 2009 when H1N1 hit and provinces, especially Manitoba, were required to draw down on the stockpile as their own resources dwindled.

In the 10 months that Canada had two peaks of H1N1, the federal government never ran out.

...

Yet, the responsibility for ensuring that the country as a whole is ready and has sufficient emergency supplies rests with the federal government and the Public Health Agency of Canada in particular.

This is their core function, not funding questionable academic studies as we've seen reported elsewhere, and on their core function, they have failed miserably.

Yes, my friends. There is indeed a whole agency of the feds whose job it is to keep a National Emergency Strategic Stockpile. They used to do their job, and their work saved us a couple of times since 2003 with SARS. But now, they don't do their job. Why that is remains a mystery. So far. It may take an election and a really dire invbestigation to find out what happened, but I do believe that eventually we will find corruption down at the bottom.

The USA.

The claim: The Obama administration used and did not replenish the nation's emergency stockpile of medical supplies, including N95 masks

As the novel coronavirus pandemic strains  health care systems, questions around the U.S. government's response have circulated in the media and online.

On March 26, The Daily Wire published an article centering on the Obama administration's role in using and allegedly failing to replenish the federal stockpile of N95 masks.

"The Obama administration significantly depleted the federal stockpile of N95 respirator masks to deal with the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009 and never rebuilt the stockpile despite calls to do so," the piece begins.

Our rating: True

We rate this claim TRUE because it is supported by our research. There is no indication that the Obama administration took significant steps to replenish the supply of N95 masks in the Strategic National Stockpile after it was depleted from repeated crises. Calls for action came from experts at the time concerned for the country's ability to respond to future serious pandemics. Such recommendations were, for whatever reason, not heeded.

This bit of fact checking comes to us courtesy of USA Today, always big fans of the Democrats generally and the Obama admin in particular. It really says something that a toadying brown-nosed outfit like USA Today has come out and laid this at Obama's doorstep. Also worth noting that the neglect contiinued on through the first three years of the Trump admin, a clear indication that the Swamp needs some draining. As with Canada, I expect we'll find out the money got stolen. But Americans will probably find out before the election.