White House Blocked Postal Service From Sending Masks To Every Home

The USPS had a plan to send 5 reusable facemasks to every household in early April. Even had a press release ready.  The White House blocked the plan.

Nearly 10,000 pages of emails, memos and other private documents offered new details about the agency’s struggles and the pro-Trump figures to whom it turned for advice.... The records also offer fresh detail about the Postal Service’s precarious position in the White House’s early pandemic response.

At one point in April, USPS leaders drafted a news release announcing plans to distribute 650 million masks nationwide, enough to offer five face coverings to every American household. The document, which includes quotations from top USPS officials and other specifics, was never sent.

Imagine the health message it would have sent if the federal government sent every household a facemask.

Some top administration officials even hoped to tap the Postal Service’s vast network — and its unrivaled ability to reach every U.S. Zip code — to help Americans obtain personal protective equipment. The idea originated out of the Department of Health and Human Services, which suggested a pack of five reusable masks be sent to every residential address in the country, with the first shipments going to the hardest-hit areas.

At the time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had been working on coronavirus guidance that recommended face coverings, a reversal of its previous position, in the face of mounting evidence that people could spread the coronavirus without experiencing symptoms. The Postal Service prepared for the possibility it might be deputized in the effort, drawing up a news release touting that it was “uniquely suited” to help.

Unbelievable that this simple direct form of federal help was possible, but blocked by the White House.

Before the news release was sent, however, the White House nixed the plan, according to senior administration officials....

The Postal Service declined to discuss its specific dealings with the White House, Treasury Department or Amazon about its plans to distribute masks....

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/09/17/usps-trump-coronavirus-amazon-foia/

Read the scrapped USPS announcement to send 5 masks to every American household