Donald Trump continues to throw a trantrum about Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm releasing a report showing that hospitals are still experiencing severe shortages in testing for COVID-19. This afternoon, Trump tweeted:
Trump is so stupid, he doesn’t realize that Health and Human Services did release a report in June 2012 looking back at what went right and wrong with the administration’s response to H1N1.
Whereas Trump can brook nothing but fawning obsequiousness–which led him to fire Grimm–the Obama administration-era report on H1N1 was clear about mistakes it made.
In the early weeks of the pandemic, the surveillance case definition was adjusted in response to increasing knowledge about the 2009 H1N1 virus. These changes were appropriate to improve surveillance for cases of pandemic influenza, but use of case definitions primarily for surveillance rather than clinical care was not communicated clearly to the clinical practices community. Additionally, diagnostic tests for accurately detecting influenza, especially for confirming 2009 H1N1, were not accessible and led to frustration within the clinical community due to their lack of availability. The low sensitivity of commercially available rapid antigen detection tests led to misdiagnosis and under-treatment of people with 2009 H1N1 influenza. In addition, frequent changes in the case definition created challenges in data collection and interpretation.
The report makes a number of recommended policy and procedural changes to better deal with future pandemics.
It’s unlikely that Trump has the necessary level of literacy to read and comprehend the report, but at least one his aides could have drawn up a cartoon version for him on an index card or something.
