United States responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

[1][2] According to CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, the Chinese government refused to let them in, which contributed to the U.S. getting a late start in identifying the danger of their outbreak and containing it before it reached other countries.

[5][4] On February 8, the WHO's director-general announced that a team of international experts had been assembled to travel to China and he hoped officials from the CDC would also be part of that mission.

[6][4] The WHO team consisted of thirteen international researchers, including two Americans, and toured five cities in China with twelve local scientists to study the epidemic February 16–23.

[9] On February 7, The State Department said it had facilitated the transportation of nearly eighteen tons of medical supplies to China, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.

Besides the 11 states, Nevada received the Chinese-made testing kits from Abu Dhabi's data and artificial intelligence firm, Group 42, in collaboration with BGI.

Some of the testing supplies were used in Nevada, but states like Alabama, South Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Arkansas, California, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania didn't purchase the BGI kits.

Privacy concerns have prevented measures such as those imposed in South Korea where authorities used cellphone tracking and credit card details to locate and test thousands of nightclub patrons when new cases began emerging.

[19] In the United States, remdesivir is indicated for use in adults and adolescents (aged twelve years and older with body weight at least 40 kilograms (88 lb)) for the treatment of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization.

On July 1, the FDA published a review of safety issues associated with the drugs, including fatal cardiac arrhythmias among other side effects.

Politics impacted scientific practice, however, when the chief of staff Mark Meadows blocked the FDA when it was realized that the timing of the provisions would make it impossible for a vaccine to be authorized before the November election.

[37] On November 20, 2020, the Pfizer–BioNTech partnership submitted a request for emergency use authorization for its vaccine to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),[38][39] which was granted on December 11.

[51] The next day, the owner of the medical supply company Prestige Ameritech wrote to HHS officials to say he could produce millions of N95 masks per month.

Senator Chris Murphy recalled that the officials, including Secretary Azar, "didn't need emergency funding, that they would be able to handle it within existing appropriations.

"[53] On February 7 Mike Pompeo announced the administration donated more than 35,000 pounds of "masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials" to China the same day the WHO warned about "the limited stock of PPE (personal protective equipment)".

[51] In February, the Department of Commerce published guidance advising U.S. firms on compliance with Beijing's fast-track process for the sale of "critical medical products", which required the masks shipped overseas to meet U.S. regulatory standards.

[59] Vessel manifests maintained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection showed a steady flow of the medical equipment needed to treat the coronavirus being shipped abroad as recently as March 17.

[64][65][66] Meanwhile, as states scrambled to purchase supplies at inflated prices from third party distributors (some of which later turned out to be defective), hundreds of tons of medical-grade face masks were shipped by air freight to foreign buyers in China and other countries.

[79] The shortages led in one instance of a governor asking the New England Patriots of the NFL to use their private plane to fly approximately 1.2 million masks from China to Boston.

[86] A September report by National Public Radio found some items were in short supply but others widely available, depending on the difficulty of manufacturing.

NPR found the shortage could be resolved by providing government guarantees to small and medium-sized manufacturers so they could increase production of N95 masks without the risk of losing money or going out of business due to oversupply or drop in demand when the pandemic ends.

President Trump denied the PPE shortages exist, calling them "fake news" in April[90] and in September saying "we've opened up factories, we've had tremendous success with face masks and with shields.

[91] The 2020 California wildfires further increased demand for N95 masks for agricultural and other outdoor workers, due to state regulations requiring protection during poor air quality conditions.

[100] Arizona declared crisis standards of care in July 2020, allowing hospitals to legally provide treatment normally considered substandard to some patients in order to save others.

They also imposed guidelines and recommendations regarding the closure of schools and public meeting places, lockdowns, and other restrictions intended to slow the progression of the virus, which state, territorial, tribal, and local governments have followed.

The theory correctly stated that asymptomatic people could "easily" transmit the virus, a belief that was presented as outside medical consensus at the time of the briefing.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), under the authority of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), leased private buildings nationwide.

One pilot reported that less than ten minutes was allotted to clean entire airplanes between arrival and departure, which did not allow cleaners to disinfect the tray tables and bathrooms, for which the practice was to wipe down only those that "[look] dirty".

Mary Kay Henry, president of Service Employees International Union, which represents 375,000 American custodians, explained that "reopenings happened across the country without much thoughtfulness for cleaning standards."

[162] On January 6, 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol building to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory.

In some nations, the United States' favorability rating had reached a record low since Pew began collecting this data nearly twenty years ago.