New reporting on Wednesday reveals the federal government assumes the coronavirus outbreak will last at least 18 months, lead to “significant shortages,” and cause “straining” of the healthcare system—an outlook greatly at odds with the president’s repeated public downplaying of the virus’s threat.
The forecast is laid out in an internal unclassified document, “U.S.Government COVID-19 Response Plan,” which was seen by the New York Times. Marked “for official use only/not for public distribution or release,” the document is dated March 13—the same day President Donald Trump finally declared a national emergency and rejected any responsibility for the lag in testing for the novel coronavirus, which has stymied efforts to track and appropriately respond to COVID-19’s national spread.
As the Times reported Wednesday, the document includes in its assumptions that:
- Universal susceptibility and exposure will significantly degrade the timelines and efficiency of response efforts.
- “A pandemic will last 18 months or longer and could include multiple waves of illness.”
- “The spread and severity of COVID-19 will be difficult to forecast and characterize.”
- “Increasing COVID-19 suspected or confirmed cases in the U.S. will result in increased hospitalizations among at-risk individuals, straining the healthcare system.”
- “Supply chain and transportation impacts due to ongoing COVID-19 outbreak will likely result in significant shortages for government, private sector, and individual U. S. consumers.”