Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Whole-of-America Response - April 20

Health & Safety
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Intergovernmental Affairs

Please see the advisory below from our partners in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regarding an update on the Whole-of-America response to COVID-19.

April 20, 2020

FEMA Advisory

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: Whole-of-America Response

Attached you will find today’s FEMA Daily Briefing Points for the Whole-of-America response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These briefing points include Topline Messages, as well as Supply Chain Task Force; By the Numbers; FEMA and Department of Health and Human Services Response; and Guidance from Federal Agencies.

Topline messaging includes:

  • On April 16 , President Trump released Guidelines for Opening America Up Again, providing a plan for rolling back social distancing measures and reopening the country’s economy in several phases, depending on location.

    • Under the guidelines, states will need to meet six metrics that include demonstrating a downward trajectory of COVID-19 cases over a 14-day period and a robust system for testing health care workers before they can proceed to a phased opening.
    • The federal government will continue to work with governors across the country to ensure they have the equipment, supplies and testing resources to reopen safely and responsibly.

  • As of April 19 , FEMA, HHS, and the private sector combined have coordinated the delivery of, or are currently shipping: 57.4 million N95 respirators, 77.9 million surgical masks, 6.2 million face shields, 11.9 million surgical gowns, 587 million gloves, 10,998 ventilators and 8,450 federal medical station beds.

    • FEMA continues to expedite movement of commercially pre-sourced and commercially procured critical supplies from the global market to medical distributors in various locations across the U.S. through Project Airbridge.
    • On April 17 , Vice President Pence issued a letter to the nation’s governors summarizing all the medical equipment and supplies that have been distributed to each state from FEMA from April 1st – 14th through Project Airbridge and the commercial supply network.

  • The U.S. has now tested 4.18 million people, which is more total tests than the following nations combined: France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, India, Austria, Australia, Sweden, and Canada.

    • As conveyed by Dr. Anthony Fauci and Admiral Brett Giroir, there is enough testing capacity for states to moves into phase one of reopening when they choose to do so.
    • States should be making full use of the vast testing resources available to them, to include leveraging the full capacity available through commercial laboratories in addition to the capability provided through state laboratories.
    • President Trump and Vice President Pence are working closely with Governors to review what more they can do to develop locally tailored testing strategies.

  • HHS and FEMA continue to provide federal support to state run testing.

    • HHS and FEMA have expanded items supplied by the International Reagent Resource (IRR) to help public health labs access free diagnostics supplies and reagents.
    • Consolidating testing supplies under the IRR simplifies the resource request process for states and territories and alleviates the burden on public health labs on needing to work with separate suppliers for swabs, reagents and other diagnostic testing supplies.

  • FEMA and HHS have centralized best practices and lessons learned to help medical practitioners, emergency managers, and other stakeholders learn from each other’s approaches.

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Follow FEMA on social media at: FEMA online, on Twitter @FEMA or @FEMAEspanol, on FEMA Facebook page or FEMA Espanol page and at FEMA YouTube channel.

Also, follow Administrator Pete Gaynor on Twitter @FEMA_Pete.

FEMA Mission

To help people before, during, and after disasters.

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