Fact Check: Did the Obama Admin Deplete the Federal Stockpile of N95 Masks?

Past health crises, such as the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009, depleted the stockpile of N95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile,  in which USA Today conducted a fact check to confirm that the Obama administration failed to replenish these necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies.

President Trump voiced during the White House coronavirus daily briefing this past Wednesday that the stockpile was nearly depleted when he took office.

According to USA Today:

We rate this claim TRUE because it is supported by our research. There is no indication that the Obama administration took significant steps to replenish the supply of N95 masks in the Strategic National Stockpile after it was depleted from repeated crises.

Calls for action came from experts at the time concerned for the country’s ability to respond to future serious pandemics. Such recommendations were, for whatever reason, not heeded.

The Trump administration continues to receive a multitude of criticism from several media outlets, blaming him and his administration for the shortage of PPE supplies.

According to Breitbart:

On Sunday, however, the Associated Press (AP) continued to blame the Trump administration for having “squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal [sic] of critically needed medical supplies and equipment.”

“Now, three months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients needing critical care is surging,” AP stated, and received comment from former Obama Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who told the wire service, “We basically wasted two months.”

As USA Today observed, a 2017 study in the journal Health Security found nearly:

… 75 percent of N95 respirators and 25 percent of face masks contained in the CDC’s Strategic National Stockpile (∼100 million products) were deployed for use in health care settings over the course of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic response.

I think we can agree that Obama was a terrible leader.

The available funds given to the Obama administration should have been used to restock these imperative PPE supplies, not only after the H1N1 influenza outbreak, but also after the several hurricanes that caused immense turmoil, from hurricanes Alex, Irene, Isaac, and Sandy.

Oh, and don’t forget about the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and the zika virus crisis in 2016.

…just to name a few.