The Governor of Illinois has described the White House’s handling of Coronavirus supplies as a “sick Hunger Games.” He blasted the lack of coordination.
J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, told CBS Chicago that there was no leadership from the White House on vital supplies for the pandemic.
“The federal government wasn’t leading. We were,” Pritzker said.
“A choice between bad and worse was muddled further by the White House’s broken promises on testing supplies and PPE deliveries.”
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
“We were in a bidding war for life-saving supplies against each other and against our international allies. We’re paying $5 for masks that should have cost 85 cents.”
“In the midst of a global pandemic states were forced to play some sort of sick Hunger Games game show to save the lives of our people,” he said.
“Let me be clear, this is not a reality TV show. There are real things that are happening in the United States.”
Pritzker explained that the “airbridge” system, where FEMA worked to get PPE from Asia, was also a failure.
“So essentially [they were] pitting me against another customer in an environment in which we have a pandemic, people are dying,” he said.
Follow Darragh Roche on Twitter
Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media
