California once had mobile hospitals and a ventilator stockpile. But it dismantled them

[PeteS in CA]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-27/coronavirus-california-mobile-hospitals-ventilators?fbclid=IwAR1JOlBaxetGwcA8LSLp-Xw4orNi1xW5KHFE3aov5JgMpKWbbBj23bhUYwM

California once had mobile hospitals and a ventilator stockpile. But it dismantled them
By LANCE WILLIAMS, WILL EVANS AND WILL CARLESS
MARCH 27, 202011 AM

In 2006, citing the threat of avian flu, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the state would invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a powerful set of medical weapons to deploy in the case of large-scale emergencies and natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires and pandemics.

“In light of the pandemic flu risk, it is absolutely a critical investment,” he told a news conference. “I’m not willing to gamble with the people’s safety.”

The state, flush with tax revenue, soon sank more than $200 million into the mobile hospital program and a related Health Surge Capacity Initiative to stockpile medicines and medical gear for use in outbreaks of infectious disease, according to former emergency management officials and state budget records.

But the ambitious effort, which would have been vital as the state confronts the new coronavirus today, hit a wall: a brutal recession, a free fall in state revenues — and in 2011, the administration of a fiscally minded Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, who came into office facing a $26-billion deficit.

And so, that year, the state cut off the money to store and maintain the stockpile of supplies and the mobile hospitals. The hospitals were defunded before they’d ever been used.

The LAT is a bit off on CA's state of $$ affairs, I think, but Arnold the RINO did the right thing. And the year after the H1N1 virus pandemic had dissipated, Goobernor Moonbeam pooed the screwch! BTW, Moonbeam's partner in stupidity was ..... Lt. Goobernor Nuisance!

[truth_seeker]

Always remember this:

The highest priority of government at all levels is government workers pay, pensions and benefits.

That is why whenever disaster appears, is is another crisis to not be missed.

Regulations, laws emerge, and they need more people to admister them.

-------

Priorities often come down to "guns" vs "butter"

Democrats will usually opt for "butter" for their employees and for their voters.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

California just had to spend those billions instead on a railroad to nowhere that no one will use.

[dfwgator]

California just had to spend those billions instead on a railroad to nowhere that no one will use.

"Mongo only pawn in Game of Life!"