Trump Team Killed Rule Designed To Protect Health Workers From Pandemic Like COVID-19
"If that rule had gone into effect, then every hospital, every nursing home would essentially have to have a plan," said David Michaels, former Occupational Safety and Health Administration chief.
When President Trump took office in 2017, his team stopped work on new federal regulations that would have forced the healthcare industry to prepare for an airborne infectious disease pandemic like COVID-19. That decision is documented in federal records reviewed by NPR.
"If that rule had gone into effect, then every hospital, every nursing home would essentially have to have a plan where they made sure they had enough respirators and they were prepared for this sort of pandemic," said David Michaels, who at the time served as head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
