Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

MisterNiceKitty

(422 posts)
Thu Aug 19, 2021, 08:32 PM Aug 2021

NYC was vastly unprepared for pandemic at outset of COVID: Comptroller Stringer

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-nyc-covid-planning-failure-stringer-report-20210818-xkbfdoqhqvforlrdfjkcoohiji-story.html
Shant Shahrigian

"The de Blasio administration was woefully unprepared for a pandemic when COVID broke out last year and its response lagged as the risks became clear, according to a scathing new report from city Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office.

The city was caught so off guard that officials didn’t even know its supply of surgical-grade N95 masks had expired years earlier until it began looking for them in February 2020, stated the report released Wednesday.

“Our investigation shows weaknesses in planning and preparation and failures to promptly make decisions when time was of the essence and every minute counted,” Stringer said in a statement.

The report comes after Mayor de Blasio’s clashes with his own Health Department came to public light last year, leading to former Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot’s August 2020 resignation."


**************************************************************************************************

At a Wednesday press conference, de Blasio rejected the criticism in the report.

“There’s no way to fully understand a global pandemic until you’re in it,” he said. “None us anticipated anything like this.”


Rejecting de Blasio’s statements that there was no way to foresee the COVID crisis, the report notes that as far back as 2006, the city outlined goals for how to respond to a pandemic.

But a key next step — detailing how the city’s massive government apparatus should achieve those goals — was never completed, Stringer’s office found.

By the start of the pandemic, “the City faced COVID-19 with only a plan to make a plan, instead of an updated citywide operational response guide,” the report stated.

Last year, Barbot accused the mayor of icing out health experts and ignoring her own warnings that COVID could cause a huge death toll, allegations Hizzoner rejected."

related: https://www.thecity.nyc/2020/11/12/21561854/new-york-city-covid-wrong-masks-missing-ventilators

4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
NYC was vastly unprepared for pandemic at outset of COVID: Comptroller Stringer (Original Post) MisterNiceKitty Aug 2021 OP
EVERYONE WAS Skittles Aug 2021 #1
I know, including Trump MisterNiceKitty Aug 2021 #2
Huh. A new pandemic hit NY first and they weren't prepared. Scrivener7 Aug 2021 #3
It's hard to really fault them Azathoth Aug 2021 #4

MisterNiceKitty

(422 posts)
2. I know, including Trump
Thu Aug 19, 2021, 08:43 PM
Aug 2021

Obama had contingencies for just this eventuality and I seem to recall the previous administration dismantling all of that with purpose just before the pandemic ended up on the public's radar.

Reposted from the NY Daily News:

"Rejecting de Blasio’s statements that there was no way to foresee the COVID crisis, the report notes that as far back as 2006, the city outlined goals for how to respond to a pandemic.

But a key next step — detailing how the city’s massive government apparatus should achieve those goals — was never completed, Stringer’s office found.

By the start of the pandemic, “the City faced COVID-19 with only a plan to make a plan, instead of an updated citywide operational response guide,” the report stated.

Last year, Barbot accused the mayor of icing out health experts and ignoring her own warnings that COVID could cause a huge death toll, allegations Hizzoner rejected."

Scrivener7

(50,774 posts)
3. Huh. A new pandemic hit NY first and they weren't prepared.
Thu Aug 19, 2021, 10:11 PM
Aug 2021

Who'd'a thunk.

I bet they aren't prepared for Canada to try to annex Washington Heights or giant wasps to take over the garment industry either. Slackers.

Azathoth

(4,603 posts)
4. It's hard to really fault them
Thu Aug 19, 2021, 10:40 PM
Aug 2021

Not a single person alive has seen something like this. Could you anticipate it on an abstract level? Sure, scientists and public health experts have done do for decades. But no one has actual hands-on experience with something like this to draw from, which not only hindered the ability of experience-reliant civil servants to respond efficiently, but also meant there was absolutely no public awareness/political cover for anyone willing to take bold iniatives to prepare and act.

Truth is that DiBlasio deserves credit for being in the vanguard of cities who first locked down. While Trumpland was still laughing at the "virus hoax", he and a handful of mayors were doing something they knew would have unimaginable economic and social consequences and that hadn't been done in any of our lifetimes.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»NYC was vastly unprepared...