The White House ignored a literal 'pandemic playbook' as it struggled to mount its coronavirus fight
The White House has a color-coded, 69-page instruction manual for fighting pandemics, and had President Trump's staff used it, Politico reports, the "playbook would have been especially useful in helping to drive the administration's response to coronavirus, given that it was intended to guide urgent decisions and coordinate the all-of-government approach that Trump so far has struggled to muster." It would have advised action in mid-January to procure medical supplies, activate relevant agencies, and craft a unified communication strategy.
The National Security Council document, known as "the pandemic playbook," was compiled in 2016 to provide instructions for an expeditious, full-government response to a pandemic, drawn largely from lessons learned during the 2014-15 Ebola pandemic. The Trump administration was briefed on the playbook in 2017, and Trump's former homeland security adviser Tom Bossert "expressed enthusiasm about its potential as part of the administration's broader strategy to fight pandemics," Politico reports.
John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser at the time, ousted Bossert in 2018 and disbanded the NSC's pandemic response directorate, where the playbook resided. "It is not clear if the administration's failure to follow the NSC playbook was the result of an oversight or a deliberate decision to follow a different course," Politico says. A current NSC official told Politico "we are aware of the document" but called it "quite dated" and said "the plan we are executing now is a better fit, more detailed, and applies the relevant lessons learned from the playbook and the most recent Ebola epidemic."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The dismissal of "longtime disaster expert" Bossert is part of a larger pattern of "empty slots and high turnover" that has "left parts of the federal government unprepared and ill equipped for what may be the largest public health crisis in a century," The New York Times reports. Between firings and voluntary exits, Trump "now finds himself with a government riddled with vacancies, acting department chiefs, and, in some cases, leaders whose professional backgrounds do not easily match up to the task of managing a pandemic."
Among the relevant vacancies, Reuters reports, are dozens of U.S. federal "health experts, scientists, and other professionals" pulled from Beijing "who might have been able to help China mount an earlier response to the novel coronavirus, as well as provide the U.S. government with more information about what was coming."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Top cooking shows for foodies
The Week Recommends From Bake Off to Chef's Table, these mouth-watering TV shows will inspire you in the kitchen
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
The four presidents who were assassinated in office
The Explainer The unlucky men who fell victim to successful plots against their lives
By David Faris Published
-
Canada's carbon tax in the crosshairs
Under the radar PM Justin Trudeau's flagship green policy has become increasingly unpopular as citizens grapple with high inflation and cost-of-living crisis
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cow
Speed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and early
Speed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US bans final type of asbestos
Speed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical records
Speed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Afghanistan has a growing female suicide problem
Speed Read The Taliban has steadily whittled away women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan over the past 2 years, prompting a surge in depression and suicide
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US life expectancy rose in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levels
Speed Read Life expectancy is slowly crawling back up
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Vallance diaries: Boris Johnson 'bamboozled' by Covid science
Speed Read Then PM struggled to get his head around key terms and stats, chief scientific advisor claims
By The Week UK Published
-
An increasing number of dog owners are 'vaccine hesitant' about rabies
Speed Read A new survey points to canine vaccine hesitancy
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published