In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that coordination and safety problems among Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff during repatriation efforts early in the COVID-19 pandemic put themselves, the recalled US citizens, and surrounding communities at risk of infection.
In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that coordination and safety problems among Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff during repatriation efforts early in the COVID-19 pandemic put themselves, the recalled US citizens, and surrounding communities at risk of infection.
According to the report, released yesterday, HHS agencies didn’t perform in the roles identified for the emergency return of US citizens during a pandemic when bringing the roughly 1,100 US citizens home, where they were quarantined.
Federal turf wars over coronavirus rescues created âhealth and safety risks,â watchdog concludes
By Dan Diamond Washington Post,Updated April 19, 2021, 6:01 p.m.
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Passengers on the balconies of the Diamond Princess cruise ship in the early days of the pandemic.AFP via Getty Images
A chaotic effort to return hundreds of Americans to the United States in the earliest days of the coronavirus outbreak â including bureaucratic infighting over whether flights out of Wuhan, China, were an âevacuationâ or ârepatriationâ â put the evacuees, federal officials, and even US communities at risk, a government watchdog concluded.
The US government-led missions, which included an operation to evacuate Americans from a virus-stricken cruise ship off the coast of Japan in February 2020, were plagued by âserious fundamental coordination challenges,â the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report requested by Congress an
March Air Reserve Base in California.
In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that coordination and safety problems among Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff during repatriation efforts early in the COVID-19 pandemic put themselves, the recalled US citizens, and surrounding communities at risk of infection.
According to the report, released yesterday, HHS agencies didn t perform in the roles identified for the emergency return of US citizens during a pandemic when bringing the roughly 1,100 US citizens home, where they were quarantined.
Staff told to remove PPE
The government watchdog also noted that the agencies that make up HHS, including the Administration for Children and Families, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, disagreed about which agency was in charge of the efforts and whether they constituted a repatriation.
Federal turf wars over coronavirus rescues created health and safety risks, watchdog concludes adn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from adn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A confused federal effort to retrieve Americans overseas in the initial outbreak led to safety risks, a new report says.
Americans arriving from Wuhan, China, disembarked from a State Department-chartered plane to board buses at March Air Reserve Base near Los Angeles in January 2020.Credit.Mike Blake/Reuters
April 19, 2021
The government’s confused effort to retrieve Americans overseas during the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak compromised the safety of the evacuees, federal employees and communities near where Americans returned to, according to a new report published on Monday by Congress’s nonpartisan watchdog.
The effort was so dysfunctional that federal health agencies could not even agree on the purpose and terms of the mission, contradicting one another about whether it was classified as an evacuation or repatriation.