A whole shift of highly needed swabs lost because of Presidential visit.
As Trump touts increased production, coronavirus swabs made during his Maine factory tour will be tossed in the trash
USA TODAY
GUILFORD, Maine – President Donald Trump traveled to Maine Friday to tour a facility that makes medical swabs used for coronavirus testing, but the swabs manufactured in the background during his visit will ultimately be thrown in the trash, the company said.
Puritan Medical Products said it will have to discard the swabs, a company spokeswoman told USA TODAY in response to questions about the visit.
It is not clear why the swabs will be scrapped, or how many. The company described its manufacturing plans for Friday as "limited" – but the disruption comes as public health officials in Maine and other states have complained that a shortage of swabs has hampered their ability to massively scale up coronavirus testing.
Workers in white lab coats, hair nets and plastic booties worked at machines making swabs while the president walked through the room. Trump, who did not wear a mask for the visit, stopped at one point to talk with some of the workers.
“Made in the USA. I’ve been saying it for a long time,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly traveled during the pandemic to call attention to companies who are responding, sometimes with government help. In those cases, the president has used the factory floors as backdrops to convey a message of American ingenuity and production that he said the country has not witnessed since World War II.
Those tours generally last only a few minutes.
'This is a rocket ship':Trump touts jobs numbers amid protests, coronavirus tumult
Maine:'A fragile moment': Trump tours swab maker despite concerns over unrest
"The running of the factory machines is very limited today and will only occur when the president is touring the facility floor," Virginia Templet, the company's marketing manager told USA TODAY in response to questions about the event. "Swabs produced during that time will be discarded."
The White House did not respond to questions about the swabs.
Nearly a third of Maine nursing homes reported last month they had no nasal swabs to collect specimens, the Portland Press Herald reported. Nearly 61% of those that responded to a Maine Medical Directors Association survey said they had seven or fewer at their disposal.
National shortages of swabs was part of what severely hampered early coronavirus testing efforts. The Trump administration used the Korean War-era Defense Production Act to increase production, which Trump is expected to tout on Friday. Puritan, which received millions of dollars from the federal government to double production, is one of only two companies that make the kind of swabs needed in coronavirus testing.
During a briefing in April, Trump held up a medical swab alongside a Q-Tip that he pulled from his jacket pocket. Trump said swabs and chemical reagents needed for tests were "so easy to get." But in a tacit acknowledgment of the urgency of producing more, he also announced that he would activate the Defense Production Act.
Trump on George Floyd:Trump says George Floyd 'hopefully' looking down and saying 'this is a great thing that's happening'
Trump has traveled extensively in recent weeks to call attention to his administration's effort to ramp up the production of the tools needed to combat the virus. He toured a Ford Motor Co. factory in Michigan, a company that makes personal protective equipment in Pennsylvania and a Honeywell plant in Arizona that manufacturers respirators.
Those trips have drawn attention to the president's decision not to wear a face mask in view of news cameras, even as the employees and company officials staged behind him at those events do so. Trump has noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines recommend – but do not require – a face mask.
Above is from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/05/trump-maine-puritan-throw-away-coronavirus-swabs/3153622001/
No comments:
Post a Comment