White House alarmed over Cooper mismanagement of pandemic
No matter whether it’s the crime lab or the economy, the man from Nash County can make it FUBAR. Even the folks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in DC are taking notice:
Officials with the White House Coronavirus Task Force are concerned with North Carolina’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the state’s inability to quickly marshal testing resources, two people familiar with the matter say.
Those concerns were the subject of a call between Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, and N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen late last week.
The call was first disclosed by Governor Roy Cooper at a briefing with reporters on Monday.
“In fact, Dr. (Deborah) Birx of the White House Coronavirus Taskforce contacted Dr. Cohen with her concerns,” Cooper said at the briefing, after highlighting the upward trend of cases in North Carolina.
Cohen elaborated on her call with Birx after a question from a reporter later in the briefing.
“She was sharing her concerns about North Carolina’s accelerating trends in the wrong direction, which is why we need to be incredibly vigilant in our actions and we also need to be sure, as I said in my remarks, that we are ramping up testing,” Cohen said of her call with Birx at Monday’s briefing.[…]
Those long, slow walks near buses with ol’ Roy are more than just a coincidence, Mandy. (I think he’s earmarked at least one of those, um, Cooper tires for you.)
MORE:
[…] But a White House Coronavirus Task Force official and, separately, a US Congressman from North Carolina who has spoken to Birx about her call with Cohen both characterized the nature of the call differently.
Specifically, the task force official, who asked to not be named in order to discuss details of the private conversation between Birx and Cohen, said Birx and other task force members are concerned at North Carolina’s inability to quickly respond to new outbreaks of the virus as they have emerged across the state.
“In the instance of North Carolina, where you see outbreaks in both rural and urban settings, there’s been an inability to actually define the root cause of those,” the task force official said.
A large part of the problem, the official said, was the state’s inability to quickly shift testing.
“What we’ve seen are some states that have reopened and are efficiently using testing resources,” the task force official said. “When they have an increase in cases, they quickly move testing resources to determine what is the cause of those, whether it’s a prison outbreak or a nursing home outbreak or a meatpacking facility. They quickly figure out what is the problem and then seek and act to contain that problem.”
The official stressed that the concerning trend in North Carolina’s numbers predate the state’s reopening.[…]
Translation: Re-opening the state economy is not making it worse. (Poor leadership in Raleigh IS.)
MORE:
Congressman Greg Murphy (R-3rd), who is also a medical doctor, said he spoke with Birx after hearing about the call between her and Cohen during Monday’s press briefing.
“Dr. Birx was alarmed and concerned about the continued trend of cases going up in North Carolina,” Murphy said. “Dr. Birx specifically said, specifically said, that it had nothing to do with reopening. That it’s a flaw that North Carolina has had since day one of the pandemic; that something is going on in the state that they are not attending to.”
Murphy said Birx could not pinpoint a specific shortcoming in the state’s coronavirus response since she has not been on the ground here to observe. But he said the White House task force coordinator pointed to a lack of testing in nursing homes, prisons and agricultural settings—including meatpacking facilities—as a cause for concern.
In a statement Tuesday night, sent in response to a request for this story, Cohen linked her conversation with Birx back to the reopening of the state.
“We appreciated the opportunity to talk with Dr. Birx,” Cohen said. “She both validated our concerns and our approach of continuing to ramp up testing and contact tracing as well as our intentional focus on historically marginalized populations who are being hardest hit by COVID-19.”
“As I noted yesterday, I am very concerned about these trends moving in the wrong direction, and it’s is a signal we need to take very seriously. One of the drivers of these increases is more movement which is consistent with our move to Phase 2,” the statement continued.
Is ONE agency w/in Cooper’s mgt functional, normal, well-managed and not a dumpster fire?
DHS: Cohen here for ONE reason, expand Medicare and promote her baby, Obamacare.
DOT: over-spent, unmanaged budget woes with employees paying the price with furloughs and NO construction
Unemployment Agency: DEAD LAST in the nation. Cannot process claims and cannot deliver $$.
Cooper’s Administration is wrought with weak managers, poorly managed agencies and just wait until the State Bd of Education comes out w/ the fall opening. Already hearing students will be masked and parents are saying, NO to 8-hrs of mask-wearing by their kids. PROMPT the flight to private schools.
Remain very concerned the NC GOP died and we didn’t read the Obit!
Leadership-wise, there seems to be a fair amount of buyers remorse over the lobbyist we let the RNC ramrod down our throats in the State Chairman’s race last year. It need not have happened but a lot of folks were dazzled by likes of know-nothings like Newt Gingrich singing his praises.
It is understandable that certain well-known , self-serving District Chairs who’ve run the Party’s fortunes into the ditch would have been pulling for this man, but there’s no excuse for County Chairmen who should have known that this was not the leadership the NCGOP needed after the previous disastrous occupant.
Bottom-line, the RNC wanted a known quantity as State Chair while they executed the Charlotte convention, and now we’re hung out to dry with someone who spends several days a week in DC on his day job, mainly cares about Tillis and not a bit about the rest of the NCGOP’s concerns.
It has been apparent from the headlines recently that Doofus is going to delay any further re-opening. I guess the citizens of the state will continue to suffer due to his incompetence….just as we have for months.
Let’s see how education plays out . Counties had to submit 3 plans. Only 1 was full reopen & goes to hades from there.
And now the BIG SPIKES…..oh, right on schedule to prevent Phase 3!
Anyone hear Dr Cohen BLATANTLY LIE when Q’ d on nursing home testing? MONEY, Insurance the ISSUE why no testing. 64% all NC deaths there & still NO testing. Took that platform to BLAST Medicare expansion. A jab for the Gen Assembly & why Coop brought her here, specifically.
But back to testing; ALL testing provided by FEDS, ALL FREE. Cohen told a Whooper & goes unchecked since the press allowed Q’s weekly SAME each wk & softballs.
I detest a political liar. Cohen & Cooper USED politics day 1 & will to very end! RNC gone: ??.
NY City & Fl gave him good soldier marching orders.
There is nothing that Governor Cooper or Dr. Cohen is doing that is wrong. They are using data to drive decision making regarding the phases of reopening. The incompetent idiot in the White House has a bug up his behind because he wanted to have a totally open RNC shindig for his nomination in Charlotte without ANY safeguards. Gov. Cooper being of sound mind and body is saying our numbers can’t support that safely. So trump sicks Birx on Cohen and Cooper to make their lives miserable because trump is vindictive. We have two issues here: Covid 19 a global pandemic and Nov. election. Once we get trump out of office, our country can begin to heal, not only from trump, but from the devision he has caused throughout this nation since his campaigning the year before he was voted into office.
Well..lol…and just why not have an open convention? We’ve been having the equivalent at my local Lowes for weeks! At last report you couldn’t squeeze another vehicle in that gigantic parking lot right now.
Well, well..lol…why not have an open RNC convention? My local Lowes is experiencing record business. The gigantic parking lot has been bursting at the seems for weeks and in fact the place is overflowing with people right now!