usatoday--2020-06-29--No presidential winner on election night? Mail-in ballots could put outcome in doubt for weeks

WASHINGTON – Kentucky wo n't have final results of last week 's state primary until Tuesday .
New York could take twice as long .
In Pennsylvania , the state 's largest city , Philadelphia , was still tallying mail-in ballots nearly two weeks after its June 2 primary .
The unprecedented volume of mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic has produced hiccups in some state primaries and operated smoothly in others .
But one thing is constant : States have shattered turnout records for primaries because of the deluge of mail-in ballots , forcing election officials to need days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the votes .
Fast-forward to the Nov. 3 presidential election , when all 50 states and the District of Columbia will vote the same day .
Many states are expected to turn to mass mail-in voting again but this time for a presidential race that will draw significantly greater turnout than primaries .
More : ' A substantial challenge ' : What Kentucky , New York tell us about voting in a pandemic come November In the race between President Donald Trump and Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden , down to races for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experts have a warning : Unless there 's a clear and decisive winner , brace for an election week or weeks , not an election night .
`` I think 'weeks ' is potentially being generous , '' said Joe Burns , a Republican election attorney for the Lawyers Democracy Fund .
Burns , a former election official with the New York State Board of Elections , said it can already takes weeks to count mail-in ballots in states where just 5 % vote absentee .
`` Well , if you go and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 10 , you would think it would take that much longer . ''
He added : `` If you 're a candidate , if you 're an election lawyer , do n't make too many plans post election . ''
The media likes to crown presidential winners as soon as a candidate clears the 270-delegate threshold .
Television networks projected Trump the winner of the 2016 election around 2:45 a.m .
ET .
Barack Obama was declared the winner on election nights in both his victories , around 11 p.m .
ET @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2012 .
The most drawn-out – and controversial – election in U.S. history was in 2000 , when television networks declared George W. Bush the winner on election night , only to revert to `` too close to call '' as votes trickled in from Florida .
The contest effectively ended five weeks later on Dec. 12 when the U.S. Supreme Court halted a vote recount in Florida .
More : 'Nonsense ' : Election experts reject Trump 's claim that foreign countries could counterfeit millions of mail-in ballots Election experts worry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the stage for greater controversial – potentially attempts by candidates to invalidate the results – because of the raging fight over vote-by-mail .
Trump has accused Democrats of seeking to `` rig '' and `` steal '' the election by supporting expanded vote-by-mail during the pandemic , which he has slammed without evidence as fraudulent .
A campaign fundraising email last week called Democrats `` thieves . ''
Biden said he has wondered whether Trump would willingly leave the White House if he loses and that his `` single greatest concern '' is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' by limiting voter access .
`` It is extremely unlikely we 're going to have final results on election night , '' said Lawrence Norden , director of the Election Reform Program for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York School of Law .
He called it a `` different kind of election this year '' that could mean at least several days to count all the votes .
More : Biden and Trump each warn that other side may 'steal ' the election as fight over mail voting rages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there 's so much disinformation around the election that people will use that to delegitimize the count .
It 's why I think it 's so important ( for ) people to know ahead of time that 's going to be the reality .
It does n't mean that there 's anything in wrong .
It means that we 're doing our jobs to make sure the votes are counted accurately . ''
Larry Diamond , a political science professor at Stanford University and fellow at the Hoover Institution , said a close @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it might take days or more to count mail-in ballots – could lead to an election fight like the U.S. has never seen .
“ We ’ ve really got significant scope for an unprecedented post-election crisis in the United States , ” Diamond said .
How all mail-in election states handle the load Thirty-four states and Washington , D.C. , already allowed all registered voters to vote by mail without an excuse before the COVID-19 pandemic .
Thirteen states took action to send mail-ballot applications in primaries this year and in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In several of the 16 states where voters must provide an excuse to receive an absentee ballot – being over 65 years old , out of town during Election Day or in the military , for example – concerns about the coronavirus now qualify as a reason .
Most states made the change only for primary elections and are waiting to see whether to extend to November .
Five states – Colorado , Hawaii , Oregon , Utah and Washington – conduct elections entirely by mail by sending ballots to all registered voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the November election .
`` My concern is it 's going to take probably the entire month of November for most states to count their mail-in or absentee ballots , and we may not know the results of the election until the end of November , '' said Kim Wyman , Republican secretary of state of Washington , which has conducted elections by mail since the 1991 .
More : 'Do-or-die moment ' to boost vote-by-mail for November election .
But the politics is getting harder By state law , Washington can start @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Day , giving counties a head-start to go through several time-consuming steps to verify authenticity .
Early mail ballots typically account for half the overall vote in Washington .
The early results are announced after voting ends .
But because votes postmarked on or near Election Day can arrive days later , it 's normal for vote-by-mail elections to take longer .
Wyman said she 's worried about the additional burden on states where absentee voting is n't as widespread historically .
These states will still be required to maintain in-person voting while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ equipment and personnel .
This includes having enough scanners , ballot sorters and signature verification machines , as well as space to count the ballots .
`` They are going to need to ramp this up , '' Wyman said , calling on Congress to allocate more money for elections .
`` And now we 're down to four months . ''
Amber McReynolds , CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute , said having enough equipment wo n't help much with producing timely results unless states rewrite laws allowing them to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Day .
Presidential battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania , Wisconsin and Michigan are among states considering legislation that would allow election officials to get a head start on processing absentee ballots .
`` By not allowing that processing in advance they 're also creating a backlog and a stress on in-person voting that really is n't necessary , '' said McReynolds , who previously served as director of elections in Denver , where elections are conducted entirely by mail .
`` If they want to make sure their states are n't the ones being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make that adjustment as soon as possible . ''
In Pennsylvania , 1.5 million people voted by mail for its June 2 primary – nearly 18 times the 84,000 who did in 2016 , accounting for more than half the overall vote .
It was the state 's first statewide election with no-excuse absentee voting .
Historically , only 4 % of Pennsylvanians vote by mail .
A state auditor race was n't decided until 10 days after the election as counties tallied all the mail ballots .
All Pennsylvania voters will again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ November .
Complicating Pennsylvania 's ability to finish counting votes in the primary , according to Wanda Murren , a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Secretary of State office , six counties , including Philadelphia County , were granted an extra week to count and report mail-in votes because of protests over police brutality .
The state also had a spike in provisional ballots from voters who arrived at a polling site after they had previously requested mail ballots .
`` We 're looking real closely at where things went most smoothly and where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the difference , '' Murren said .
`` We already know the equipment makes a huge difference , the amount of staffing makes a huge difference . ''
In the coming months , vote-by-mail advocates want to build public awareness on the potential elongated election timeline .
`` I know we like instant gratification , but we need to come to terms with the fact that if the election is close we will not have results on Election Day this year and that 's okay , '' said former Republican Pennsylvania Gov .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a nonprofit that is advocating for vote-by-mail expansion .
`` We should expect an election week rather than Election Day . ''
Others believe more help is needed nationally for voter confidence if the outcome is in doubt for days or weeks .
William Galston , a senior fellow for the Brookings Institution ’ s Governance Studies Program , said in the `` best of all possible worlds '' an election with a large share of mail-in ballots will have a substantial gap between Election Day and the final results .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mechanics , but also a very substantial bipartisan leadership consensus declaring itself in advance opposed to any efforts to delegitimate the election by either side . ''
He suggested assembling a panel with the likes of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , former Democratic Majority Leader Tom Daschle and even former presidents .
`` We 're going to need an overall canopy of legitimization in order to prevent a worst case scenario , '' Galston said .

No presidential winner on election night? Mail-in ballots could put outcome in doubt for weeks
Show Caption Hide Caption Elections 2020: Mail-in voting could decide next president Many states are planning on drastically different elections this year and mail-in ballots could be a big game changer. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Kentucky won't have final results of last week's state primary until Tuesday. New York could take twice as long. In Pennsylvania, the state's largest city, Philadelphia, was still tallying mail-in ballots nearly two weeks after its June 2 primary.
The unprecedented volume of mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic has produced hiccups in some state primaries and operated smoothly in others.
But one thing is constant: States have shattered turnout records for primaries because of the deluge of mail-in ballots, forcing election officials to need days, even weeks, to count all the votes.
Fast-forward to the Nov. 3 presidential election, when all 50 states and the District of Columbia will vote the same day. Many states are expected to turn to mass mail-in voting again but this time for a presidential race that will draw significantly greater turnout than primaries.
More: 'A substantial challenge': What Kentucky, New York tell us about voting in a pandemic come November
In the race between President Donald Trump and Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden, down to races for Congress and even local contests, voting experts have a warning: Unless there's a clear and decisive winner, brace for an election week or weeks, not an election night.
"I think 'weeks' is potentially being generous," said Joe Burns, a Republican election attorney for the Lawyers Democracy Fund.
Burns, a former election official with the New York State Board of Elections, said it can already takes weeks to count mail-in ballots in states where just 5% vote absentee. "Well, if you go and increase the absentee ballots by a factor of 10, you would think it would take that much longer."
He added: "If you're a candidate, if you're an election lawyer, don't make too many plans post election."
Worries about a 'post-election crisis'
The media likes to crown presidential winners as soon as a candidate clears the 270-delegate threshold. Television networks projected Trump the winner of the 2016 election around 2:45 a.m. ET. Barack Obama was declared the winner on election nights in both his victories, around 11 p.m. ET in 2008 and 11:20 p.m. ET in 2012.
The most drawn-out – and controversial – election in U.S. history was in 2000, when television networks declared George W. Bush the winner on election night, only to revert to "too close to call" as votes trickled in from Florida. The contest effectively ended five weeks later on Dec. 12 when the U.S. Supreme Court halted a vote recount in Florida.
More: 'Nonsense': Election experts reject Trump's claim that foreign countries could counterfeit millions of mail-in ballots
Election experts worry a prolonged outcome this year could set the stage for greater controversial – potentially attempts by candidates to invalidate the results – because of the raging fight over vote-by-mail.
Trump has accused Democrats of seeking to "rig" and "steal" the election by supporting expanded vote-by-mail during the pandemic, which he has slammed without evidence as fraudulent. A campaign fundraising email last week called Democrats "thieves." Biden said he has wondered whether Trump would willingly leave the White House if he loses and that his "single greatest concern" is that Trump will "steal the election" by limiting voter access.
"It is extremely unlikely we're going to have final results on election night," said Lawrence Norden, director of the Election Reform Program for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York School of Law. He called it a "different kind of election this year" that could mean at least several days to count all the votes.
More: Biden and Trump each warn that other side may 'steal' the election as fight over mail voting rages
"This is a real concern because there's so much disinformation around the election that people will use that to delegitimize the count. It's why I think it's so important (for) people to know ahead of time that's going to be the reality. It doesn't mean that there's anything in wrong. It means that we're doing our jobs to make sure the votes are counted accurately."
Larry Diamond, a political science professor at Stanford University and fellow at the Hoover Institution, said a close election – and the public not understanding that it might take days or more to count mail-in ballots – could lead to an election fight like the U.S. has never seen.
“We’ve really got significant scope for an unprecedented post-election crisis in the United States,” Diamond said.
How all mail-in election states handle the load
Thirty-four states and Washington, D.C., already allowed all registered voters to vote by mail without an excuse before the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirteen states took action to send mail-ballot applications in primaries this year and in some cases for the November election.
In several of the 16 states where voters must provide an excuse to receive an absentee ballot – being over 65 years old, out of town during Election Day or in the military, for example – concerns about the coronavirus now qualify as a reason. Most states made the change only for primary elections and are waiting to see whether to extend to November.
Five states – Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington – conduct elections entirely by mail by sending ballots to all registered voters. California will do the same for the November election.
"My concern is it's going to take probably the entire month of November for most states to count their mail-in or absentee ballots, and we may not know the results of the election until the end of November," said Kim Wyman, Republican secretary of state of Washington, which has conducted elections by mail since the 1991.
More: 'Do-or-die moment' to boost vote-by-mail for November election. But the politics is getting harder
By state law, Washington can start processing mail-in ballots 10 days before Election Day, giving counties a head-start to go through several time-consuming steps to verify authenticity. Early mail ballots typically account for half the overall vote in Washington. The early results are announced after voting ends. But because votes postmarked on or near Election Day can arrive days later, it's normal for vote-by-mail elections to take longer.
Wyman said she's worried about the additional burden on states where absentee voting isn't as widespread historically. These states will still be required to maintain in-person voting while building capacity for mail-in voting with more equipment and personnel. This includes having enough scanners, ballot sorters and signature verification machines, as well as space to count the ballots.
"They are going to need to ramp this up," Wyman said, calling on Congress to allocate more money for elections. "And now we're down to four months."
State law changes key for timely results
Amber McReynolds, CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute, said having enough equipment won't help much with producing timely results unless states rewrite laws allowing them to begin processing mail-in ballots ahead of Election Day.
Presidential battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan are among states considering legislation that would allow election officials to get a head start on processing absentee ballots.
"By not allowing that processing in advance they're also creating a backlog and a stress on in-person voting that really isn't necessary," said McReynolds, who previously served as director of elections in Denver, where elections are conducted entirely by mail. "If they want to make sure their states aren't the ones being waited on for results, they should make that adjustment as soon as possible."
In Pennsylvania, 1.5 million people voted by mail for its June 2 primary – nearly 18 times the 84,000 who did in 2016, accounting for more than half the overall vote. It was the state's first statewide election with no-excuse absentee voting. Historically, only 4% of Pennsylvanians vote by mail. A state auditor race wasn't decided until 10 days after the election as counties tallied all the mail ballots.
All Pennsylvania voters will again be allowed to vote by mail in November.
More: Trump trails Biden in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and Arizona, poll finds
Complicating Pennsylvania's ability to finish counting votes in the primary, according to Wanda Murren, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Secretary of State office, six counties, including Philadelphia County, were granted an extra week to count and report mail-in votes because of protests over police brutality.
The state also had a spike in provisional ballots from voters who arrived at a polling site after they had previously requested mail ballots.
"We're looking real closely at where things went most smoothly and where they didn't, and what was the difference," Murren said. "We already know the equipment makes a huge difference, the amount of staffing makes a huge difference."
Public awareness seen as crucial
In the coming months, vote-by-mail advocates want to build public awareness on the potential elongated election timeline.
"I know we like instant gratification, but we need to come to terms with the fact that if the election is close we will not have results on Election Day this year and that's okay," said former Republican Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who now co-chairs SafeVote, a nonprofit that is advocating for vote-by-mail expansion. "We should expect an election week rather than Election Day."
Others believe more help is needed nationally for voter confidence if the outcome is in doubt for days or weeks.
William Galston, a senior fellow for the Brookings Institution’s Governance Studies Program, said in the "best of all possible worlds" an election with a large share of mail-in ballots will have a substantial gap between Election Day and the final results.
"What you need is not just better mechanics, but also a very substantial bipartisan leadership consensus declaring itself in advance opposed to any efforts to delegitimate the election by either side."
He suggested assembling a panel with the likes of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, former Democratic Majority Leader Tom Daschle and even former presidents.
"We're going to need an overall canopy of legitimization in order to prevent a worst case scenario," Galston said.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.


usatoday--2020-07-01--Despite warnings, the US wasn't prepared with masks for coronavirus. Now it's too late.

While treating coronavirus patients in one of the busiest emergency rooms in Manhattan , Dr. Jason Hill wore the same disposable respirator mask for up to four shifts in a row .
He ’ d take the mask home from Columbia University Medical Center , his coffee-flavored breath clinging to its fibers .
Then he ’ d bake it in the oven to kill any viral hitchhikers .
A half hour at 140 degrees .
For months as the virus filled hospitals in New York and across the nation , doctors , nurses and other medical workers were forced to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sharing protective gear , reusing masks , or going without – simply because there weren ’ t enough to go around .
Nurses at Mount Sinai West hospital in New York City wore Hefty trash bags to protect themselves .
Doctors at a California veterans hospital were handed one single-use disposable respirator in a brown paper bag at the beginning of the day to use for an entire shift .
The stories shocked the nation and spawned a massive volunteer network to make cotton masks and donate supplies .
The Federal Emergency Management @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Donald Trump , created an airlift to bring in emergency supplies from around the world .
Meanwhile , companies in the U.S. that had never made personal protective gear filled in as pinch-hitters , all in an effort to ease shortages .
But six months into the nation ’ s battle with the coronavirus , doctors and nurses still face a dearth of supplies as coronavirus cases continue to rise nationwide .
Nearly 45 % of those surveyed by the American Nurses Association said they experienced protective gear shortages as late as May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employers encouraged or required them to reuse disposable equipment .
More : Tracking the coronavirus outbreak in the US Things have improved since the severe shortages in March .
Major mask manufacturers increased production .
Federal officials eased some rules for masks and other personal protective equipment , commonly known as PPE , for example allowing reuse and cleaning .
But those efforts haven ’ t matched , much less gotten ahead of , the demand if the nation sees a big resurgence in coronavirus hospitalizations .
The USA TODAY Network analyzed dozens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 50 experts — including health care administrators , traders and lawmakers — about the PPE shortages , especially the disposable masks that cost anywhere from a few pennies to a dollar .
The blame , experts agreed , goes beyond any single person or agency but is the culmination of decades of change in the nation ’ s manufacturing capabilities , a worldwide shift in how we deliver goods , and the country ’ s long battle with medical costs .
Warnings about how these factors set the stage for shortages during a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country unprepared for a pandemic .
By the time the coronavirus arrived , it was too late .
The nation was left with massive shortages and a ruptured supply chain that won ’ t be an easy fix .
Michael Akire , president of Premier , one of the nation ’ s largest hospital purchasing organizations , is optimistic the supply chain problems can be corrected .
“ Nothing is insurmountable , ” Alkire said .
Among the steps he and others said it would require are moving manufacturing of critical supplies out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ better coordinating supplies during emergencies and ramping up emergency manufacturing when needed .
Will the country be ready if a second surge of the virus hits this fall ?
It ’ s really too soon to say , said Alkire and others .
Much depends on how many hospitalizations occur and where .
“ If we get another New York City that goes all over the country , ” he said , “ obviously we ’ re going to be in short supply , even though everybody is working like the dickens to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shortages already are being addressed by U.S. manufacturers who continue to add new manufacturing lines and capacity , Alkire said .
But he and other experts USA TODAY interviewed said fully resolving the situation could take years .
While many have argued about whether one federal administration or the other is to blame , the problems span multiple administrations .
Federal pandemic planners , scholars and even some manufacturers warned for at least 15 years shortages of respirator masks and other supplies , even prescription drugs , were likely during a pandemic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ needed .
“ All of us knew how desperate the need was , ” said Dr. Sonja Rasmussen , a University of Florida professor who at the CDC in 2017 co-authored a federal study on the lessons learned about personal protective equipment from previous public health responses .
• Decades of pressures on hospitals , businesses and governments to cut costs and make more money left the country ill-prepared for a pandemic .
• A dramatic shift of manufacturing overseas , especially to China , meant more than 90 % of the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outside the United States , far away and difficult to reach , especially during a global crisis .
• Hospitals — under pressure to contain costs — wouldn ’ t have the supplies they needed .
In a 16-state survey in 2014 , not a single hospital reported having a stockpile or emergency cache .
As the Asian Development Bank put it in a recent briefing statement , “ the combination of offshoring , lean manufacturing and just in time inventory to cut costs may have stretched the global supply chain to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ production just weeks after China , which produces more masks than any other country , reported the first coronavirus cases on Dec. 31 .
Chinese provinces near the outbreak went into lockdown .
For weeks the government required most masks produced there to stay in China .
Then , the filtering fabrics their factories use to make masks ran low .
Dozens of countries also limited or banned the export of masks and supplies .
By late January , masks began disappearing off shelves in the U.S. , and stores had a hard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found their supply lines drying up by early March .
They dug into reserves designed to buy them a little time during normal surges in activity .
But it quickly became apparent the coronavirus was nothing like a bad flu season .
Production in China rebounded a few weeks later .
But it was too late .
The demand for masks was so high the world ’ s shipping industry couldn ’ t keep up .
Hospitals across the U.S. reported acute shortages .
Fierce competition for protective gear among hospitals , clinics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up prices and attracted con-artists .
“ The magnitude and speed of the spread of coronavirus just overwhelmed the entire supply chain from A to Z , ” said Mike Crotty , an Ohio-born Shanghai textile broker with more than 35 years in the business .
“ It was a madhouse.
” China ’ s move toward manufacturing dominance began more than 30 years ago when the country adopted a series of economic reforms .
Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations status in 2000 , and in 2001 , China joined the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ restrictions were lifted , China attracted new investors and companies looking to lower manufacturing costs .
U.S. companies were among those setting up shop in China , including mask makers 3M and Honeywell .
By 2011 , China ’ s exports had grown by more than 500 % while manufacturing employment in the U.S dropped by almost 20 % , at least two million jobs .
China became the biggest supplier of imports to the U.S. , about $ 452 billion worth in 2019 .
“ America ’ s mask makers left America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said Mike Bowen , CEO of Texas-based Prestige Ameritech , one of the nation ’ s few domestic mask manufacturers .
Today , fewer than 10 % of the masks used in the U.S. are made here .
And China makes almost half the world ’ s masks , gowns and gloves and other PPE .
So , when China nationalized its factories in February and directed all mask production to domestic use , that left the U.S. and much of the world in a quandary .
A USA TODAY Network investigation showed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the category that includes masks .
Just as other parts of the world began battling the coronavirus in January and February , China rushed to import millions of protective items .
Exports to China from the U.S. surged .
The U.S. response wavered .
Emails among U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials in late January and early February , released as part of a whistleblower complaint , showed a flurry of confusion , delays and debates as the virus began to spread .
The complaint was filed by Rick Bright @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the department ’ s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority .
Bowen , the Texas mask maker , sent near daily emails to the department in late January .
“ If the supply stops , ” he warned on Jan. 25 , U.S. hospitals would run out of masks .
Speaking about the virus on January 30 , President Donald Trump said : “ We think we have it very well under control.
” On Feb. 7 , Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced the U.S. had shipped 17.8 tons of donated medical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to China .
Just two days later , according to a memo included in the whistleblower complaint , Peter Navarro , a senior advisor to Trump on trade , recommended the U.S. halt the export of respirator masks and try to ramp up production .
Still , in mid-February , the U.S. Commerce Department published a flyer with tips for U.S. companies that wanted to ship face masks , ventilators and other supplies to China , which had temporarily lifted some registration requirements for imports .
At home , China pushed factories to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in to start producing masks .
“ Everybody was moving fast , ” said Crotty , president of Golden Pacific Fashion and Design in Shanghai .
His company had not previously sold masks , but started in the midst of the pandemic .
As production increased , manufacturers encountered shortages of the specialized , non-woven fabric called polypropylene , used to make the masks , said Renaud Anjoran , a China-based quality engineering consultant and auditor with Sofeast .
The material is “ melt blown ” to create small , electrically charged fibers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spread of infectious diseases .
Back in the U.S. , supplies were running low in March even before COVID-19 cases began to multiply because of the busy flu season , said Valerie Griffeth , a doctor with specialties in emergency medicine and intensive care at Oregon Health and Science University .
Griffeth works with GetUsPPE.org , an effort organized by health care workers in response to the coronavirus-driven shortages to match providers with supplies and raise awareness .
Before the pandemic , emergency room doctors rarely used the disposable N95 respirator masks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worn one only a few times over his nine-year career , usually to protect himself while treating a patient with tuberculosis .
By mid-March , some hospitals were using up to 17 times more masks and gloves than normal .
That N95 disposable respirator is essential for controlling infectious diseases like the coronavirus .
It filters out 95 % of the harmful particles in the air and is more comfortable to wear and less scary for patients than masks that provide greater filtration .
When the coronavirus struck , use of the N95s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ per month , with only 15-10 % used in health care , to 300 million a month , mostly for health care , said Gary Gereffi , who directs the Global Value Chains Center at Duke University .
That ’ s almost 1 billion masks over three months , exactly as experts had predicted .
Nested in a row , that ’ s enough masks to reach from Seattle to Miami , and back .
Some east coast hospitals were using 40,000 masks a day , said Mike Schiller , senior director of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Care Resource and Materials Management .
Almost half the hospitals who answered a March survey by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology were either out of N95 respirators ( 20 % ) or almost out ( 28 % ) .
When the coronavirus hit a rural , predominantly African American community in Georgia in March with devastating consequences , a stockpile at Phoebe Memorial Hospital that normally would have lasted six-months was gone in a week , Dr. Shanti Akers told a U.S. House subcommittee .
“ We were and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stretch , '' Akers said in late May .
The critical supply shortages across the country illustrated the pitfalls of the lean ordering systems hospitals put into place over three decades to cut costs .
“ It ’ s no secret that the margins in hospitals are being tightened , ” said Schiller .
For years , hospitals have faced constraints on reimbursement levels from insurers .
They eliminated warehouses full of supplies and equipment and adopted “ just-in-time ” practices to keep stockpiles as low as possible to cut costs , ordering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In turn , distributors don ’ t carry as much inventory and depend on deliveries from their own suppliers , who rely on shipments from the countries making masks , including China , Taiwan and India .
“ Just like everywhere across the country , I think it ’ s pretty clear that we are not prepared for these types of pandemics and that ’ s showing itself in spades right now , ” said Joseph Fifer , president and CEO of the Healthcare Financial Management Association .
Most hospitals keep between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stock , said Dr. Stephen Kates , a chair of orthopedic surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University ’ s Medical Center and a professor .
One night in mid-March , when Hill ’ s hospital was “ just awash in a sea of COVID , ” he had to intubate a patient , forcing a breathing tube into the patient ’ s airway .
When no one in the emergency room could find a face shield , he performed one of the riskiest procedures for a disease that spreads through fluids from the mouth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rounded up a group of 3D-printing friends and the Columbia University Design Center to make face shields .
Working around the clock for weeks , the volunteers printed thousands .
As the shortages grew more severe , states and hospitals looked for help from the federal Strategic National Stockpile , a collection of drugs , antitoxins , respirators , ventilators and other supplies overseen by the Health and Human Services department .
Former officials and other experts said the stockpile was never adequately funded , with priorities and budgets shifting from year to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ changing priorities of Congress .
By early April , 90 % of the stockpile ’ s PPE supplies were gone .
That left the marketplace , where purchasing officials for states and hospitals encountered extreme competition and soaring prices .
Many new vendors , scenting profits , looked to break into the business .
Many sellers required cash up front before they would ship masks and other supplies .
Dr. Andrew Artenstein , an infectious disease specialist for Baystate Health in Western Massachusetts , wound up in an out-of-state parking lot in April @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Just when he thought the supplies were safely rolling away in disguised trucks , he said federal agents arrived demanding to know where they were headed .
“ It ’ s pretty chaotic and difficult , ” said William Tong , Connecticut ’ s attorney general as he helped to find supplies and check vendors ’ backgrounds .
“ I am aware of offers to sell PPE to hospitals at exorbitant prices.
” In Louisiana , state emergency officials put together a list of potential vendors for masks and other supplies .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 28 times higher than before the pandemic .
Three companies on the list showed prices higher than $ 10 per mask , more than 10 times higher than normal .
State records show the highest quote , from a company named Deera Bituach , was $ 14.63 .
Per mask .
Other proposed contracts so alarmed Louisiana officials they turned them over to the Attorney General ’ s office for further investigation .
Businesses also faced a chaotic environment .
Mask manufacturer 3M filed four lawsuits across the nation against vendors it said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ non-existent 3M N95 masks .
Amazon removed 6,000 accounts it had identified as price gouging attempts , and the company stated it was working directly with states attorneys general “ to prosecute bad actors and hold them accountable.
” The online retailer proved a boon for volunteers throughout the nation looking for elastic , cotton fabric and other supplies to make homemade masks for health care workers and first responders .
Elizabeth Townsend Gard , a law professor at Tulane University in New Orleans , launched the MillionMasksADay.com website with friend and fellow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dozens of groups across the country that have donated tens of thousands of colorful cotton masks .
“ We knew people who were sick and people who died , ” said Townsend Gard .
“ How could we not be making masks ?
” Even for states and hospitals who managed to find supplies , getting freight from China to the U.S. became “ a cluster , ” said Steve Keats of Miami , a partner in Kestrel Liner Agencies , an international shipping company .
Cargo comes from China in two ways @ @ @ @ @ @ @ journey on a cargo ship or in a matter of hours in the belly of a jet .
Everyone wanted their mask deliveries via air , but fewer passenger jets were flying across the Pacific , and that meant less space in their cargo holds for shipments .
Air-freight wait times increased to almost a week , said Keats and others .
They watched in shock as shipping costs quadrupled .
Passenger airlines American and Delta started making cargo-only flights , in some cases stowing cargo in space normally used for passengers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ intervened to speed things up and get supplies where they were needed most .
Dubbing the effort “ Project Air Bridge , ” FEMA worked with commercial cargo companies , including UPS and FedEx , to pick up supplies from manufacturers in Asia and Latin America and deliver to U.S. distributors for sale at market prices .
Through mid-May , the project distributed 768,000 N95 respirators and 75.5 million surgical masks to areas prioritized by FEMA and HHS .
FEMA also stated it would build up a 90-day supply of masks , respirators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the fight against the virus continues , lawmakers , manufacturers and others say it ’ s time for the U.S. to heed the years of warnings and develop the ability to respond more quickly in the future .
The situation this spring was “ a complete and utter train wreck , ” said U.S .
Senator Chris Murphy , a Connecticut Democrat .
“ It was ‘ Lord of the Flies ’ out there.
” Overseeing purchasing for more than 4,000 hospitals , Premier president Alkire is keenly aware of every failure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He also worked with FEMA on the air bridge .
He and others said three big things need to happen : • Some manufacturing of essential raw materials , medical supplies and prescription drugs , should return to the U.S. , or at least Canada and Mexico .
• A high-tech coordinated national system to locate products and determine where they ’ re needed during emergencies .
• The federal government needs to provide incentives to companies to maintain the ability to ramp up emergency production of masks and other medical supplies when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already have launched legislation aimed at correcting some of the problems .
However , several former federal officials noted disasters tend to fade quickly into memory when a new disaster occurs .
That ’ s a natural response in part , said neuroscientist David Rock , founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute .
Humans tend to unconsciously let one threat fade into the background and move onto the next .
“ Something that feels far away — like it happened 100 years ago or in another country — just isn ’ t given importance.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ any organization , he said , “ is to think at longer-term horizons and make sure the important , not just urgent things , get done.
” Dinah Voyles Pulver , Erin Mansfield and Katie Wedell are investigative reporters for USA TODAY .
Contact Dinah at dpulver @ gatehousemedia.com , Erin at emansfield @ gatehousemedia.com and Katie at kwedell @ gatehousemedia.com .
Dian Zhang is a data journalist for USA TODAY .
Contact her at dzhang @ gatehousemedia.com .
Emily LeCoz is the regional investigations editor for USA TODAY .
Contact her at @ @ @ @

By Dinah Voyles Pulver, Katie Wedell and Erin Mansfield, USA TODAY

Despite warnings, the US wasn’t prepared with masks for coronavirus. Now it’s too late
Show Caption Hide Caption Face mask care: Use your washer and dryer to clean your mask This is how often you should wash your cloth face mask. ProblemSolved, USA TODAY
Treating coronavirus patients in one of the busiest emergency rooms in Manhattan, Dr. Jason Hill wore the same disposable respirator mask for up to four shifts in a row.
He’d take the mask home from Columbia University Medical Center, his coffee-flavored breath clinging to its fibers. Then he’d bake it in an oven to kill any viral hitchhikers. A half-hour at 140 degrees.
For months as the virus filled hospitals in New York and across the nation, doctors, nurses and other medical workers risked their lives in similar ways – sharing protective gear, reusing masks or going without – simply because there weren’t enough to go around.
Thousands of health care workers got sick, and hundreds died.
Nurses at Mount Sinai West hospital in New York City wore Hefty trash bags to protect themselves. Doctors at a California veterans hospital were handed one single-use disposable respirator in a brown paper bag at the beginning of the day to use for an entire shift.
The stories spawned a massive volunteer network to make cotton masks and donate supplies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, under the direction of President Donald Trump, created an airlift to bring in emergency supplies from around the world. U.S. companies that had never made personal protective gear filled in as pinch-hitters, all in an effort to ease shortages.
Six months into the nation’s battle with the coronavirus, doctors and nurses still face a dearth of supplies as coronavirus cases rise nationwide. Nearly 45% of those surveyed by the American Nurses Association said they experienced protective gear shortages as late as May 31. Almost 80% said their employers encouraged or required them to reuse disposable equipment.
More: Tracking the coronavirus outbreak in the USA
Things have improved since the severe shortages in March. Major mask manufacturers increased production. Federal officials eased some rules for masks and other personal protective equipment, commonly known as PPE, allowing reuse and cleaning. But those efforts haven’t matched, much less gotten ahead of, the demand.
The USA TODAY Network analyzed dozens of government reports and interviewed more than 50 experts – including health care administrators, traders and lawmakers – about the PPE shortages, especially the disposable masks that cost a few pennies to a dollar.
The blame, experts agreed, goes beyond any single person or agency but is the culmination of decades of change in the nation’s manufacturing capabilities, a worldwide shift in how goods are delivered and the country’s long battle with medical costs. Warnings about how these factors set the stage for shortages during a worst-case scenario went unheeded, leaving the country unprepared for a pandemic.
By the time the coronavirus arrived, it was too late. The nation was left with massive shortages and a ruptured supply chain that won’t be an easy fix.
Michael Alkire, president of Premier, one of the nation’s largest hospital purchasing organizations, is optimistic the supply chain problems can be corrected.
“Nothing is insurmountable,” Alkire said. He and others recommended moving manufacturing of critical supplies out of China and closer to home, better coordinating supplies during emergencies and ramping up emergency manufacturing when needed.
Nurses protest lack of PPE during COVID-19 pandemic National Nurses United protest in front of the White House calling attention to the health care workers lacking PPE. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
Will the country be ready if a second surge of the virus hits this fall? It’s too soon to say, Alkire said. Much depends on how many hospitalizations occur and where.
“If we get another New York City that goes all over the country,” he said, “obviously we’re going to be in short supply, even though everybody is working like the dickens to get product.”
Some of the PPE shortages are being addressed by U.S. manufacturers who continue to add manufacturing lines and capacity, Alkire said, but fully resolving the situation could take years.
The problems span multiple federal administrations.
Federal pandemic planners, scholars and some manufacturers warned for at least 15 years that shortages of respirator masks and other supplies, including prescription drugs, were likely during a pandemic. They warned billions of masks would be needed.
“All of us knew how desperate the need was,” said Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, a University of Florida professor who co-wrote a federal study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017 on the lessons learned about personal protective equipment from public health responses.
Multiple studies had warned:
Decades of pressure on hospitals, businesses and governments to cut costs and make more money left the country ill-prepared for a pandemic.
A shift of manufacturing overseas, especially to China, meant more than 90% of the world’s masks and respirators are made outside the USA, far away and difficult to reach, especially during a global crisis.
Hospitals wouldn’t have the supplies they needed. In a 16-state survey in 2014, not a single hospital reported having a stockpile or emergency cache.
As the Asian Development Bank put it in a briefing statement, “The combination of offshoring, lean manufacturing and just in time inventory to cut costs may have stretched the global supply chain to a breaking point.”
A pandemic begins
Troubles began with mask production weeks after China, which produces more masks than any other country, reported the first coronavirus cases Dec. 31.
Chinese provinces near the outbreak went into lockdown. For weeks, the government required most masks produced in China to stay there. The filtering fabrics factories used to make masks ran low.
Dozens of countries limited or banned the export of masks and supplies.
By late January, masks began disappearing off shelves in the USA, and stores had a hard time restocking.
Hospitals found their supply lines drying up by early March. They dug into reserves designed to buy them a little time during normal surges in activity. It quickly became apparent the coronavirus was nothing like a bad flu season.
Production in China rebounded a few weeks later, but it was too late. The demand for masks was so high the world’s shipping industry couldn’t keep up. Hospitals across the USA reported acute shortages.
Fierce competition for protective gear among hospitals, clinics, states and the federal government drove up prices and attracted con artists.
“The magnitude and speed of the spread of coronavirus just overwhelmed the entire supply chain from A to Z,” said Mike Crotty, an Ohio-born Shanghai textile broker with more than 35 years in the business. “It was a madhouse.”
‘Mass exodus’
China’s move toward manufacturing dominance began more than 30 years ago when the country adopted a series of economic measures. Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations status in 2000, and in 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization. As trade restrictions were lifted, China attracted investors and companies looking to lower manufacturing costs.
U.S. companies were among those setting up shop in China, including maskmakers 3M and Honeywell.
By 2011, China’s exports had grown by more than 500% while manufacturing employment in the USA dropped by almost 20%, at least 2 million jobs. China became the biggest supplier of imports to the USA, about $452 billion worth in 2019.
“America’s maskmakers left America in an uncoordinated mass exodus,” said Mike Bowen, CEO of Texas-based Prestige Ameritech, one of the nation’s few domestic mask manufacturers.
Less than 10% of the masks used in the USA are made here. China makes almost half the world’s masks, gowns, gloves and other PPE.
When China nationalized its factories in February and directed all mask production to domestic use, that left much of the world in a quandary.
A USA TODAY Network investigation showed imports of goods to the USA plunged in the category that includes masks.
As other parts of the world began battling the coronavirus in January and February, China rushed to import millions of protective items. Exports to China from the USA surged.
Emails among U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials in late January and early February, released as part of a whistleblower complaint, showed a flurry of confusion, delays and debates as the virus began to spread. The complaint was filed by Rick Bright, who was director of the department’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
Bowen sent near-daily emails to the department in late January. “If the supply stops,” he warned on Jan. 25, U.S. hospitals would run out of masks.
Speaking about the virus on Jan. 30, Trump said, “We think we have it very well under control.”
On Feb. 7, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the United States had shipped 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies – including masks and respirators – to China.
Two days later, according to a memo included in the whistleblower complaint, Peter Navarro, a senior adviser to Trump on trade, recommended the United States halt the export of respirator masks and try to ramp up production.
In mid-February, the U.S. Commerce Department published a flyer with tips for U.S. companies that wanted to ship face masks, ventilators and other supplies to China, which had temporarily lifted some registration requirements for imports.
China pushed factories to increase production. New companies jumped in to start producing masks. “Everybody was moving fast,” said Crotty, president of Golden Pacific Fashion and Design in Shanghai. His company started to sell masks in the midst of the pandemic.
As production increased, manufacturers encountered shortages of the specialized, nonwoven fabric called polypropylene, used to make the masks, said Renaud Anjoran, a China-based quality engineering consultant and auditor with Sofeast. The material is “melt blown” to create small, electrically charged fibers that trap small particles and prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
#GetUsPPE
In the USA, supplies were running low in March – even before COVID-19 cases began to multiply – because of the busy flu season, said Valerie Griffeth, a doctor with specialties in emergency medicine and intensive care at Oregon Health and Science University. Griffeth works with GetUsPPE.org, an effort organized by health care workers in response to the coronavirus-driven shortages to match providers with supplies and raise awareness.
Before the pandemic, emergency room doctors rarely used the disposable N95 respirator masks, Hill said. Hill had worn one only a few times over his nine-year career, usually to protect himself while treating a patient with tuberculosis.
By mid-March, some hospitals were using up to 17 times more masks and gloves than normal.
The N95 disposable respirator is essential for controlling infectious diseases such as the coronavirus. It filters out 95% of the harmful particles in the air and is more comfortable to wear and less scary for patients than masks that provide greater filtration.
When the coronavirus struck, use of the N95s in the USA shot from 50 million per month, 10%-15% of which were used in health care, to 300 million a month, mostly for health care, said Gary Gereffi, who directs the Global Value Chains Center at Duke University.
That’s almost 1 billion masks over three months, as experts had predicted. Nested in a row, that’s enough masks to reach from Seattle to Miami, and back.
Some East Coast hospitals used 40,000 masks a day, said Mike Schiller, senior director of supply chain for the Association for Health Care Resource and Materials Management.
Almost half the hospitals that answered a survey in March by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology were either out of N95 respirators (20%) or almost out (28%).
When the coronavirus hit a rural, predominantly African American community in Georgia in March with devastating consequences, a stockpile at Phoebe Memorial Hospital that normally would have lasted six-months was gone in a week, Dr. Shanti Akers told a U.S. House subcommittee.
“We were and still are forced to make that supply stretch," Akers said in late May.
‘Just in time’
The critical supply shortages across the country illustrated the pitfalls of the lean ordering systems hospitals put into place over three decades to cut costs.
“It’s no secret that the margins in hospitals are being tightened,” Schiller said. For years, hospitals have faced constraints on reimbursement levels from insurers.
They eliminated warehouses full of supplies and equipment and adopted “just-in-time” practices to keep stockpiles as low as possible to cut costs, ordering supply shipments to arrive as needed instead.
In turn, distributors don’t carry as much inventory and depend on deliveries from their own suppliers, who rely on shipments from the countries making masks, including China, Taiwan and India.
“Just like everywhere across the country, I think it’s pretty clear that we are not prepared for these types of pandemics, and that’s showing itself in spades right now,” said Joseph Fifer, president and CEO of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
Most hospitals keep five to nine days of N95s in stock, said Dr. Stephen Kates, a chair of orthopedic surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical Center and a professor.
One night in mid-March, when Hill’s hospital was “awash in a sea of COVID,” he had to intubate a patient, forcing a breathing tube into the patient’s airway. The coronavirus spreads through fluids from the nose and mouth, but no one in the emergency room could find a face shield, so Hill performed one of the riskiest procedures without one.
He rounded up a group of 3D-printing friends and the Columbia University Design Center to make face shields. Working around the clock for weeks, the volunteers printed thousands.
‘The Wild West’
As the shortages grew more severe, states and hospitals looked for help from the federal Strategic National Stockpile, a collection of drugs, antitoxins, respirators, ventilators and other supplies overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Former officials and other experts said the stockpile was never adequately funded as congressional priorities and budgets shifted from year to year. By early April, 90% of the stockpile’s PPE supplies were gone.
That left the marketplace, where purchasing officials for states and hospitals encountered extreme competition and soaring prices. Many vendors, scenting profits, looked to break into the business. Many sellers required cash up front before they would ship masks and other supplies.
Dr. Andrew Artenstein, an infectious disease specialist for Baystate Health in western Massachusetts, wound up in an out-of-state parking lot in April, wheeling and dealing to buy masks. Just when he thought the supplies were safely rolling away in disguised trucks, he said, federal agents arrived, demanding to know where they were headed.
Some state officials dubbed it “the Wild West.”
“It’s pretty chaotic and difficult,” said William Tong, Connecticut’s attorney general as he helped to find supplies and check vendors’ backgrounds. “I am aware of offers to sell PPE to hospitals at exorbitant prices.”
In Louisiana, emergency officials put together a list of potential vendors for masks and other supplies. Prices for N95s were as much as 28 times higher than before the pandemic. Three companies on the list showed prices higher than $10 per mask, more than 10 times higher than normal. State records show the highest quote, from a company named Deera Bituach, was $14.63. Per mask.
Other proposed contracts so alarmed Louisiana officials they turned them over to the attorney general’s office for further investigation.
Businesses also faced a chaotic environment. Mask manufacturer 3M filed four lawsuits across the nation against vendors it said tried to sell tens of millions of nonexistent 3M N95 masks.
Amazon removed 6,000 accounts it identified as price gouging attempts, and the company said it was working directly with state attorneys general “to prosecute bad actors and hold them accountable.”
The online retailer proved a boon for volunteers throughout the nation looking for elastic, cotton fabric and other supplies to make homemade masks for health care workers and first responders.
Elizabeth Townsend Gard, a law professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, launched the MillionMasksADay.com website with friend and fellow quilter Seth Hackler. They were among dozens of groups across the country that donated tens of thousands of colorful cotton masks.
“We knew people who were sick and people who died,” Townsend Gard said. “How could we not be making masks?”
‘A cluster’
Even for states and hospitals that managed to find supplies, getting freight from China to the USA became “a cluster,” said Steve Keats of Miami, a partner in Kestrel Liner Agencies, an international shipping company.
Cargo comes from China in two ways, Keats said: a 12-20-day journey on a cargo ship or in a matter of hours in the belly of a jet. Everyone wanted their mask deliveries via air, but fewer passenger jets were flying across the Pacific, and that meant less space in their cargo holds for shipments.
Air-freight wait times increased to almost a week, Keats and others said. They watched in shock as shipping costs quadrupled.
Passenger airlines American and Delta started making cargo-only flights, in some cases stowing cargo in space normally used for passengers.
Eventually, the Federal Emergency Management Agency intervened to speed things up and get supplies where they were needed most. Dubbing the effort “Project Air Bridge,” FEMA worked with commercial cargo companies, including UPS and FedEx, to pick up supplies from manufacturers in Asia and Latin America and deliver to U.S. distributors for sale at market prices.
Through mid-May, the project distributed 768,000 N95 respirators and 75.5 million surgical masks to areas prioritized by FEMA and HHS. FEMA said it would build up a 90-day supply of masks, respirators and other items.
‘A complete and utter train wreck’
As deaths mount and the fight against the virus continues, lawmakers, manufacturers and others say it’s time for the United States to heed the years of warnings and develop the ability to respond more quickly.
The situation this spring was “a complete and utter train wreck,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “It was ‘Lord of the Flies’ out there.”
Overseeing purchasing for more than 4,000 hospitals, Premier President Alkire is keenly aware of every failure and bottleneck in the supply chain. He worked with FEMA on the air bridge.
He and others said three big things need to happen:
Some manufacturing of essential raw materials, medical supplies and prescription drugs , should return to the USA, or at least Canada and Mexico.
A high-tech coordinated national system should locate products and determine where they’re needed during emergencies.
The federal government needs to provide incentives to companies to maintain the ability to ramp up emergency production of masks and other medical supplies when needed.
Murphy and other federal lawmakers launched legislation aimed at correcting some of the problems.
But some experts noted disasters tend to fade quickly into memory when a new disaster occurs.
That’s a natural response in part, said neuroscientist David Rock, founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute. Humans unconsciously let one threat fade into the background and move on to the next. “Something that feels far away – like it happened 100 years ago or in another country – just isn’t given importance.”
The role of leaders in any organization, he said, “is to think at longer-term horizons and make sure the important, not just urgent, things get done.”
Contributing: Dian Zhang and Emily Le Coz
Dinah Voyles Pulver, Erin Mansfield and Katie Wedell are investigative reporters for USA TODAY. Contact Dinah at dpulver@gatehousemedia.com, Erin at emansfield@gatehousemedia.com and Katie at kwedell@gatehousemedia.com. Dian Zhang is a data journalist for USA TODAY. Contact her at dzhang@gatehousemedia.com. Emily LeCoz is the regional investigations editor for USA TODAY. Contact her at elecoz@gatehousemedia.com.


usatoday--2020-07-01--Panel urges more expansive guidelines for VA medical experiments on dogs

Medical experiments on dogs at the Department of Veterans Affairs are warranted in some cases , but the agency should adopt more expansive guidelines to determine when it is “ scientifically necessary ” to conduct that research , according to an independent report set to be released Wednesday .
The review , by the National Academies of Sciences , Engineering and Medicine , was commissioned by the VA in 2018 after lawmakers and critics raised questions about the invasive and ultimately fatal experiments .
It concluded some of the most controversial experiments are scientifically worthwhile , including ones in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to have irregular heart rhythms , and others in which dogs ' spinal cords are severed and then stimulated to measure cough reflexes .
But for others , “ dogs are no longer the preferred model for studies , ” the review concluded .
That includes an experiment proposed at a VA facility in Los Angeles in which the animals would have been given antidepressants and methamphetamine to study narcolepsy .
The National Academies of Science recommended the VA improve conditions for the dogs it does use , such as providing better enclosures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to outside inspections of its facilities .
It also recommended the agency develop a plan to incorporate new methodologies or “ innovative non-animal approaches.
” Controversy over dog experiments : Fatal dog experiments moving ahead despite criticism from Congress , veterans groups The VA has argued its experiments on dogs are vital to medical research that has contributed to life-saving breakthroughs , including development of the implantable cardiac pacemaker and an artificial pancreas for diabetics that monitors glucose levels and delivers insulin .
“ This study confirms what we ’ ve said all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the only viable option for developing and testing certain treatments to improve the quality of life for some seriously disabled Veterans , ” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement Wednesday .
The agency now has six active studies on dogs at three VA facilities – in Richmond , Virginia ; Madison , Wisconsin ; and St. Louis .
Two years ago , the VA had nine active studies , including one in Cleveland , where researchers sought to measure cough reflexes before and after severing dogs ' spinal cords .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ after an internal VA investigation in 2017 found surgery failures and other problems with the research projects at the VA facility in Richmond .
Experiments there call for researchers studying the relationship between certain irregular heartbeats and heart failure to implant pacemakers and induce abnormal rhythms while measuring cardiac function during treadmill tests .
The animals would then be euthanized .
Senior VA officials at the time ordered a review of dog experiments and mandated that top veterinary officials approve future studies .
Dog research : VA tightens oversight after outrage over fatal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spending on any medical experiments on dogs that weren ’ t personally approved by the VA secretary .
For the Los Angeles narcolepsy experiment , VA officials determined mice could be used instead of dogs , and pigs could be used for a Milwaukee study on blood flow .
Another experiment in Milwaukee called for researchers to remove sections of dogs ’ brains in order to test neurons that control breathing .
The animals were to be killed by lethal injection .
When Wilkie took over the agency in 2018 , he said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In its statement Wednesday , the agency said the VA `` reduced its use of canines in research to the absolute minimum required at this time to fulfill its commitment to finding treatments for Veterans with life-threatening health conditions . ''
The National Academy of Sciences panel found problems in how the VA justified the canine studies , including an overreliance on past use of dogs , which it said was “ a form of circular reasoning that perpetuates the use of laboratory dogs without adequate examination of alternatives.
” The review “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not adequately explain the relevance of the study to veterans ’ health.
” Critics of the experiments said the findings are a step forward .
Justin Goodman , vice president of advocacy and public policy at White Coat Waste Project , said in a written statement they confirm the VA ’ s “ barbaric ” canine testing program needs an overhaul .
“ Veterans and other taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for wasteful and cruel VA dog tests that are opposed by most people and — as is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing — are outside of the VA ’ s mission to address veteran-specific ailments , ” he said .

Panel urges more expansive guidelines for VA medical experiments on dogs
Medical experiments on dogs at the Department of Veterans Affairs are warranted in some cases, but the agency should adopt more expansive guidelines to determine when it is “scientifically necessary” to conduct that research, according to an independent report set to be released Wednesday.
The review, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, was commissioned by the VA in 2018 after lawmakers and critics raised questions about the invasive and ultimately fatal experiments.
It concluded some of the most controversial experiments are scientifically worthwhile, including ones in which dogs are implanted with pacemakers and induced to have irregular heart rhythms, and others in which dogs' spinal cords are severed and then stimulated to measure cough reflexes.
But for others, “dogs are no longer the preferred model for studies,” the review concluded. That includes an experiment proposed at a VA facility in Los Angeles in which the animals would have been given antidepressants and methamphetamine to study narcolepsy.
The National Academies of Science recommended the VA improve conditions for the dogs it does use, such as providing better enclosures, allowing them more exercise and submitting to outside inspections of its facilities. It also recommended the agency develop a plan to incorporate new methodologies or “innovative non-animal approaches.”
Controversy over dog experiments: Fatal dog experiments moving ahead despite criticism from Congress, veterans groups
The VA has argued its experiments on dogs are vital to medical research that has contributed to life-saving breakthroughs, including development of the implantable cardiac pacemaker and an artificial pancreas for diabetics that monitors glucose levels and delivers insulin.
“This study confirms what we’ve said all along: at this point canine research is the only viable option for developing and testing certain treatments to improve the quality of life for some seriously disabled Veterans,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement Wednesday.
The agency now has six active studies on dogs at three VA facilities – in Richmond, Virginia; Madison, Wisconsin; and St. Louis.
Two years ago, the VA had nine active studies, including one in Cleveland, where researchers sought to measure cough reflexes before and after severing dogs' spinal cords.
The drop in studies followed harsh criticism after an internal VA investigation in 2017 found surgery failures and other problems with the research projects at the VA facility in Richmond.
Experiments there call for researchers studying the relationship between certain irregular heartbeats and heart failure to implant pacemakers and induce abnormal rhythms while measuring cardiac function during treadmill tests. The animals would then be euthanized.
Senior VA officials at the time ordered a review of dog experiments and mandated that top veterinary officials approve future studies.
Dog research: VA tightens oversight after outrage over fatal experiments on dogs
Lawmakers passed legislation prohibiting spending on any medical experiments on dogs that weren’t personally approved by the VA secretary.
For the Los Angeles narcolepsy experiment, VA officials determined mice could be used instead of dogs, and pigs could be used for a Milwaukee study on blood flow.
Another experiment in Milwaukee called for researchers to remove sections of dogs’ brains in order to test neurons that control breathing. The animals were to be killed by lethal injection.
When Wilkie took over the agency in 2018, he said he planned to continue the experiments. In its statement Wednesday, the agency said the VA "reduced its use of canines in research to the absolute minimum required at this time to fulfill its commitment to finding treatments for Veterans with life-threatening health conditions."
The National Academy of Sciences panel found problems in how the VA justified the canine studies, including an overreliance on past use of dogs, which it said was “a form of circular reasoning that perpetuates the use of laboratory dogs without adequate examination of alternatives.”
The review “also revealed instances where the investigators did not adequately explain the relevance of the study to veterans’ health.”
Critics of the experiments said the findings are a step forward. Justin Goodman, vice president of advocacy and public policy at White Coat Waste Project, said in a written statement they confirm the VA’s “barbaric” canine testing program needs an overhaul.
“Veterans and other taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for wasteful and cruel VA dog tests that are opposed by most people and — as is the case with VA’s ongoing dog testing — are outside of the VA’s mission to address veteran-specific ailments,” he said.


usatoday--2020-07-01--Will infections spike, state reopening rollbacks hurt recovery or spur a new recession?

As 17 states pause or roll back reopening plans amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases , the reversal is likely to crimp the recovery from one of the worst recessions in U.S. history .
At least one economist says the shift has noticeably increased the risk of a second recession later this year .
But other economists foresee just a modest impact and believe the recovery should largely stay on course .
Five states -- Arizona , California , Florida , Texas and Michigan – again have shut down businesses such as bars , gyms , water parks and theaters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counties in South Florida and Los Angeles County in California are closing their beaches for the July 4th holiday weekend in response to a spike in infection rates .
Twelve other states -- including Arkansas , Nevada , North Carolina , Tennessee and Utah -- have hit the pause button on plans to further allow businesses to reopen .
Some health officials have blamed state decisions to relax restrictions too early and too aggressively before seeing a drop in COVID-19 cases in a bid to restart near-moribund economies .
“ They came out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re now falling flat on their faces , ” says Mark Zandi , chief economist of Moody ’ s Analytics .
“ It will weigh heavily on the economy.
” About 30 % to 50 % of the nation ’ s gross domestic product comes from counties that are seeing infection spikes , Deutsche Bank says .
In a new report , Goldman Sachs says a national face mask mandate could substitute for lockdowns that otherwise would subtract nearly 5 % from U.S. gross domestic product .
Mask mandate ?
: A national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help recovery , Goldman Sachs says Many experts believe the U.S. economy will contract at an annual rate of 30 % to 40 % in the second quarter , the steepest quarterly drop on record .
The recent rise in infections and the reinstatement of business constraints will pare back the third-quarter economic rebound to 17 % from 20 % , Zandi estimates .
He predicts 7.25 million jobs will be added in the July-September quarter , 280,000 fewer than his forecast a few weeks ago .
While the brunt of that pullback @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back their reopening plans , even states in the Northeast and Midwest that are moving ahead could be forced to downshift because of new risks linked to visitors from the `` hot spot '' states , Zandi says .
Ian Shepherdson , chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics , says the 21 % third-quarter growth forecast by economists surveyed by Bloomberg “ is now at serious risk.
” The economy shed a record 22 million net jobs -- including layoffs and new hires -- in March and April before adding 2.5 million in May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers .
The Labor Department on Friday is projected to report another 3.1 million job gains in June .
As states force some businesses to close down again and others to delay or limit reopening , some might be forced to lay off workers or even shutter permanently , Zandi says .
For now , he expects that fallout to be contained , resulting in no further long-term damage to the economy , but he adds there are risks of more lasting harm .
Chris Varvares , co-head of U.S. economics at IHS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rollbacks and a surge in infection rates and deaths that discourage consumers from going out and spending .
“ It raises the odds that we will be back in recession by the end of the year , ” he says .
That would constitute a “ double-dip recession , ” with the first downturn limited to the second quarter and the second running from the fourth quarter to the first quarter of 2021 , he says .
He puts the odds of another slump at 20 % , up from 5 % in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wage hikes in three states , 21 localities to aid low-paid workers slammed by Covid-19 Other economists are less concerned .
While the climb in infections and the state rollbacks will curtail economic activity in the South and West , that should be more than offset by reopenings that are advancing in other parts of the country , says Shepherdson and economists at Morgan Stanley .
The economy also should be bolstered by another stimulus package in Congress , Morgan Stanley says .
Because of the state rollbacks , Zandi now expects that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up from his previous estimate of $ 1 trillion .

Will infections spike, state reopening rollbacks hurt recovery or spur a new recession?
Show Caption Hide Caption Coronavirus: What to expect in a recession, depression The coronavirus (COVID-19) is impacting the global economy and raising fears of a recession. What causes a recession and what are the signs? Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
As 17 states pause or roll back reopening plans amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases, the reversal is likely to crimp the recovery from one of the worst recessions in U.S. history.
At least one economist says the shift has noticeably increased the risk of a second recession later this year. But other economists foresee just a modest impact and believe the recovery should largely stay on course.
Five states – Arizona, California, Florida, Texas and Michigan – again have shut down businesses such as bars, gyms, water parks and theaters amid a jump in cases. Several counties in South Florida and Los Angeles County in California are closing their beaches for the July 4th holiday weekend in response to a spike in infection rates.
Twelve other states – including Arkansas, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah – have hit the pause button on plans to further allow businesses to reopen.
Some health officials have blamed state decisions to relax restrictions too early and too aggressively before seeing a drop in COVID-19 cases in a bid to restart near-moribund economies.
“They came out of the gate fast and they’re now falling flat on their faces,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “It will weigh heavily on the economy.”
About 30% to 50% of the nation’s gross domestic product comes from counties that are seeing infection spikes, Deutsche Bank says.
In a new report, Goldman Sachs says a national face mask mandate could substitute for lockdowns that otherwise would subtract nearly 5% from U.S. gross domestic product.
Mask mandate?: A national mask mandate could lower virus infections and help recovery, Goldman Sachs says
Many experts believe the U.S. economy will contract at an annual rate of 30% to 40% in the second quarter, the steepest quarterly drop on record. The recent rise in infections and the reinstatement of business constraints will pare back the third-quarter economic rebound to 17% from 20%, Zandi estimates. He predicts 7.25 million jobs will be added in the July-September quarter, 280,000 fewer than his forecast a few weeks ago.
While the brunt of that pullback can be traced to the states scaling back their reopening plans, even states in the Northeast and Midwest that are moving ahead could be forced to downshift because of new risks linked to visitors from the "hot spot" states, Zandi says.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics, says the 21% third-quarter growth forecast by economists surveyed by Bloomberg “is now at serious risk.”
The economy shed a record 22 million net jobs – including layoffs and new hires – in March and April before adding 2.5 million in May as many merchants reopened and brought back workers. The Labor Department on Friday is projected to report another 3.1 million job gains in June.
As states force some businesses to close down again and others to delay or limit reopening, some might be forced to lay off workers or even shutter permanently, Zandi says. For now, he expects that fallout to be contained, resulting in no further long-term damage to the economy, but he adds there are risks of more lasting harm.
Chris Varvares, co-head of U.S. economics at IHS Markit, worries about both the state rollbacks and a surge in infection rates and deaths that discourage consumers from going out and spending.
“It raises the odds that we will be back in recession by the end of the year,” he says. That would constitute a “double-dip recession,” with the first downturn limited to the second quarter and the second running from the fourth quarter to the first quarter of 2021, he says. He puts the odds of another slump at 20%, up from 5% in May.
Pay floors rising: Minimum wage hikes in three states, 21 localities to aid low-paid workers slammed by Covid-19
Other economists are less concerned. While the climb in infections and the state rollbacks will curtail economic activity in the South and West, that should be more than offset by reopenings that are advancing in other parts of the country, says Shepherdson and economists at Morgan Stanley.
The economy also should be bolstered by another stimulus package in Congress, Morgan Stanley says. Because of the state rollbacks, Zandi now expects that aid to total $1.25 trillion, up from his previous estimate of $1 trillion.
Contributing: Joshua Bote, Grace Hauck and Jessica Menton


usatoday--2020-07-01--'No mask. No ride': Uber will require drivers and passengers to wear face masks indefinitely

Uber is extending its mask requirement indefinitely throughout the U.S. and Canada as coronavirus cases continue to rise across several states .
The ride-hailing giant previously said that both drivers and riders are required to wear masks during trips through June .
On Wednesday , the company said it 's extending that rule into the foreseeable future .
“ Extending our 'No Mask , No Ride ' policy is the right thing to do , '' Uber said in a statement .
`` We want to send a clear message to everyone using Uber that we all have a role @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” The decision was made based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
The company also notes the public rise in coronavirus cases .
Texas , New Mexico and California are among the states with new infections trending upward .
The news comes in tandem with the company 's launch of a new campaign running on TV , social media and in the app .
It 's called `` No mask .
No ride '' and depicts drivers and Uber Eats delivery people working during the pandemic .
Coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 390 per vial for some patients , $ 520 for others Uber also conducted a survey of 600 random Uber and Lyft drivers , finding that Uber drivers feel safer with COVID-19 related safety guidelines in place , the company said .
The company added selfie technology for drivers in May that detects whether a driver is wearing a mask before they start a shift .
More than a million drivers have gone through mask detection already , the company said .
Drivers have completed more than 100 million trips while wearing masks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ higher if Uber Eats trips were included , the company said .
It also sends notifications to riders reminding them to wear a face covering before their driver arrives .
Uber 's business was hit hard after the pandemic was declared as people urged to stay home did n't need to take as many rides .
The company shed swaths of its workforce , as a result , and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi waived his base salary through the end of the year .
Even if you have n't taken a trip in months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you 're still required to wear a mask .
“ For riders who may be taking their first trip since the pandemic began , please know that your driver is required to wear a mask or face cover – and you are too , '' Uber said .
Lyft also has a mask requirement in all 50 states , and airlines have instituted similar policies to aid in coronavirus prevention efforts .

'No mask. No ride': Uber will require drivers and passengers to wear face masks indefinitely
Show Caption Hide Caption Face mask care: Use your washer and dryer to clean your mask This is how often you should wash your cloth face mask. ProblemSolved, USA TODAY
Uber is extending its mask requirement indefinitely throughout the U.S. and Canada as coronavirus cases continue to rise across several states.
The company previously said that both drivers and riders are required to wear masks during trips through June. On Wednesday, the company said it's extending that rule.
“Extending our 'No Mask, No Ride' policy is the right thing to do," Uber said in a statement. "We want to send a clear message to everyone using Uber that we all have a role to play to keep each other safe.”
The decision was made based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The company also notes the public rise in coronavirus cases. Texas, New Mexico and California are among the states with infections trending upward.
The news comes in tandem with the company's launch of a campaign running on TV, social media and in the app. It's called "No mask. No ride" and depicts drivers and Uber Eats delivery people working during the pandemic.
Coronavirus: COVID-19 drug remdesivir priced at $390 per vial for some patients, $520 for others
Uber also conducted a survey of 600 random Uber and Lyft drivers, finding that Uber drivers feel safer with COVID-19 related safety guidelines in place, the company said. The company added selfie technology for drivers in May that detects whether a driver is wearing a mask before they start a shift.
More than a million drivers have gone through mask detection already, the company said. Drivers have completed more than 100 million trips while wearing masks, a number that would be much higher if Uber Eats trips were included, the company said.
It also sends notifications to riders reminding them to wear a face covering before their driver arrives.
Uber's business was hit hard after the pandemic was declared as people urged to stay home didn't need to take as many rides. The company shed swaths of its workforce as a result, and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi waived his base salary through the end of the year.
Even if you haven't taken a trip in months, you're still required to wear a mask.
“For riders who may be taking their first trip since the pandemic began, please know that your driver is required to wear a mask or face cover – and you are too," Uber said.
Lyft also has a mask requirement in all 50 states, and airlines have instituted similar policies to aid in coronavirus prevention efforts.
Follow Dalvin Brown on Twitter: @Dalvin_Brown.


usatoday--2020-07-01--COVID hasn't stopped the housing market, but good luck finding a home you can afford

The coronavirus pandemic has brought out the competitive side in Laura Galeazzo as she searches for her forever home in Rochester , New York .
Galeazzo , a 33-year-old running coach at McKirdy Trained , an online coaching service for runners , has viewed a dozen houses and put offers on three of them , only to come up short as other buyers outbid her and her husband .
She fell in love with one of the first houses they bid on at an open house .
The colonial-style , four-bedroom house with 2.5 baths was recently updated with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But an older couple in their 50s stood in front of the open house during the entire time so they could beat other families to the punch as soon as it ended .
“ They stared people down to mark their territory , ” Galeazzo said , adding that the older couple ended up getting the home when they offered $ 22,000 over the $ 234,000 asking price .
“ They even kept their car parked in the driveway so no one else could get in.
” A dream home , a vintage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Here 's what couples are buying with their pandemic wedding funds Ouch !
: COVID-19 is forcing some people to put retirement on hold Since then , Galeazzo and her husband started driving by other homes in their price range to check out the neighborhoods .
But then they noticed they had competition when they kept seeing the same people also drive by the homes they were viewing .
“ My racing mentality kicked in .
We need to beat them to the next house , ” Galeazzo said .
“ It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up the competition for a bidding war .
What if that five minutes it took to call your realtor made the difference ?
” New homeowners face obstacles getting a mortgage without a bigger down payment and higher credit scores since lending standards have tightened in the aftermath of the pandemic .
Lenders want to ensure that borrowers can still make their mortgage payments during the crisis following a historic wave of layoffs .
Although mortgage rates hover at historic lows , potential buyers are battling low housing inventory and higher prices , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent years and is showing no signs of letting up .
Homebuyers must act quickly when debating a purchase , sometimes offering over asking price or getting into a bidding war with other potential buyers .
Low inventory was an issue before the pandemic .
Homebuilders that were pummeled by the housing crisis still haven ’ t returned to a normal production levels to meet current demand .
Now the supply shortage is weighing on the housing market even further with increased competition .
Housing inventory has dropped 29 % from a year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to Realtor.com .
More than 40 % of homeowners who purchased their home during the pandemic reported entering into a bidding war on at least one home , according to recent data from Clever Real Estate , which surveyed 1,000 homeowners from May 31 through June 2 who purchased their home between January and May .
“ Housing affordability is a little easier on paper with low mortgage rates , but the bigger challenge is trying to find a home , ” says Javier Vivas , director of economic research for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beyond expectations .
When you combine that with historically low levels of inventory , it ’ s a perfect storm for increased competition and an affordability crisis.
” The Boston metro area had the highest rate of competition , with 64.1 % of offers written by Redfin agents on behalf of their homebuyers facing bidding wars in May , up from 56 % in April .
It was followed by Dallas at 60.8 % and Washington , D.C. , at 57 % .
Brett-Ashlee Ward , a first-time homebuyer , put in offers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks in Oklahoma City .
The 23-year-old was beaten out by cash offers every time .
“ It ’ s crazy !
How do these people even have that much saved in cash ?
, ” Ward says , a co-host of The Sam Mayes podcast , a sports radio program .
“ It ’ s not like I ’ m low balling , '' she said , adding that she offered above the listing prices and did n't ask the sellers to cover the closing costs .
Ward was preapproved for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Federal Housing Administration , with a 3.5 % down payment .
She is finally under contract for her tenth offer and hopes to close the deal in early August , she says .
In recent years , requirements eased for higher down payments and credit scores than in previous years .
Nearly 40 % of homebuyers put less than 20 % down on their homes in 2018 , up from 22 % a decade before , data from Clever Real Estate showed .
New homeowners , however , face a harder time getting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and higher credit scores .
Those who purchased a home this year , for instance , were 32 % less likely to put less than 20 % down on their homes than those who purchased between 2015 and 2019 , according to Clever Real Estate .
Price growth began accelerating for affordable homes after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11 , according to Redfin , a real estate brokerage .
Home prices in many affordable areas have moved higher as buyer demand increased while the supply of homes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue to grow faster for at least the next few years given this lack of supply , experts say .
Prices of the most affordable homes in the U.S. climbed 5.5 % from a year earlier during the 12 weeks ending May 31 , Redfin data shows .
In Newark , New Jersey , the most affordable third of homes saw prices surge 14.7 % from a year earlier to a median of $ 211,281 during the 12 weeks ending May 31 , the largest increase out of the 50 most populous U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with prices jumping 13.6 % and 13.3 % , respectively .
Amanda Doucette , 27 , learned the hard way that she and her husband had to make their offer as competitive as possible , or they ’ d be left in the dust .
Earlier this month , they made a bid on a home built in 2015 in Grant Park , a newer subdivision in Columbus , Ohio , just a day after it was listed .
But there were at least 15 other offers , and they found themselves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war .
The house was on the market for $ 420,000 , and they offered to pay at least $ 10,000 more and take care of the costs of an appraisal gap if the home was appraised lower than the stated purchase price .
Still , the seller chose another buyer .
`` My husband and I are fortunate to both work in a field that pays well , we have good credit scores and saved money for a down payment , '' Doucette says , who works as a physician assistant at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` But we ’ re still having a hard time finding a home we can afford .
Homeownership is difficult even if you do everything right .
”

COVID hasn't stopped the housing market, but good luck finding a home you can afford
Show Caption Hide Caption Finances: How to get rent, mortgage relief The federal government CARES Act and various cities and banks are offering relief. Here's what you should know. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
The coronavirus pandemic has brought out the competitive side in Laura Galeazzo as she searches for her forever home in Rochester, New York.
Galeazzo, a 33-year-old running coach at McKirdy Trained, an online coaching service for runners, has viewed a dozen houses and put offers on three of them, only to come up short as other buyers outbid her and her husband.
She fell in love with one of the first houses they bid on at an open house. The colonial-style, four-bedroom house with 2.5 baths was recently updated with a new roof, furnace and AC.
But an older couple in their 50s stood in front of the open house during the entire time so they could beat other families to the punch as soon as it ended.
“They stared people down to mark their territory,” Galeazzo said, adding that the older couple ended up getting the home when they offered $22,000 over the $234,000 asking price. “They even kept their car parked in the driveway so no one else could get in.”
A dream home, a vintage school bus and quirky roller skates: Here's what couples are buying with their pandemic wedding funds
Ouch!: COVID-19 is forcing some people to put retirement on hold
Since then, Galeazzo and her husband started driving by other homes in their price range to check out the neighborhoods. But then they noticed they had competition when they kept seeing the same people also drive by the homes they were viewing.
“My racing mentality kicked in. We need to beat them to the next house,” Galeazzo said. “It’s almost like you’re sizing up the competition for a bidding war. What if that five minutes it took to call your realtor made the difference?”
Housing affordability
New homeowners face obstacles getting a mortgage without a bigger down payment and higher credit scores since lending standards have tightened in the aftermath of the pandemic. Lenders want to ensure that borrowers can still make their mortgage payments during the crisis following a historic wave of layoffs.
Although mortgage rates hover at historic lows, potential buyers are battling low housing inventory and higher prices, an issue that has plagued house-hunters in recent years and is showing no signs of letting up. Homebuyers must act quickly when debating a purchase, sometimes offering over asking price or getting into a bidding war with other potential buyers.
Low inventory was an issue before the pandemic. Homebuilders that were pummeled by the housing crisis still haven’t returned to a normal production levels to meet current demand. Now the supply shortage is weighing on the housing market even further with increased competition.
Housing inventory has dropped 29% from a year earlier through the week ending June 20, according to Realtor.com.
More than 40% of homeowners who purchased their home during the pandemic reported entering into a bidding war on at least one home, according to recent data from Clever Real Estate, which surveyed 1,000 homeowners from May 31 through June 2 who purchased their home between January and May.
“Housing affordability is a little easier on paper with low mortgage rates, but the bigger challenge is trying to find a home,” says Javier Vivas, director of economic research for Realtor.com. “Housing demand has increased beyond expectations. When you combine that with historically low levels of inventory, it’s a perfect storm for increased competition and an affordability crisis.”
The Boston metro area had the highest rate of competition, with 64.1% of offers written by Redfin agents on behalf of their homebuyers facing bidding wars in May, up from 56% in April. It was followed by Dallas at 60.8% and Washington, D.C., at 57%.
Cash is king
Brett-Ashlee Ward, a first-time homebuyer, put in offers for nine homes over the past three weeks in Oklahoma City. The 23-year-old was beaten out by cash offers every time.
“It’s crazy! How do these people even have that much saved in cash?,” Ward says, a co-host of The Sam Mayes podcast, a sports radio program. “It’s not like I’m low balling," she said, adding that she offered above the listing prices and didn't ask the sellers to cover the closing costs.
Ward was preapproved for a $150,000 home loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration, with a 3.5% down payment. She is finally under contract for her tenth offer and hopes to close the deal in early August, she says.
In recent years, requirements eased for higher down payments and credit scores than in previous years. Nearly 40% of homebuyers put less than 20% down on their homes in 2018, up from 22% a decade before, data from Clever Real Estate showed.
New homeowners, however, face a harder time getting a mortgage without a bigger down payment and higher credit scores. Those who purchased a home this year, for instance, were 32% less likely to put less than 20% down on their homes than those who purchased between 2015 and 2019, according to Clever Real Estate.
Home prices aren't budging
Price growth began accelerating for affordable homes after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11,according to Redfin, a real estate brokerage. Home prices in many affordable areas have moved higher as buyer demand increased while the supply of homes for sale dropped. Prices will likely continue to grow faster for at least the next few years given this lack of supply, experts say.
Prices of the most affordable homes in the U.S. climbed 5.5% from a year earlier during the 12 weeks ending May 31, Redfin data shows.
In Newark, New Jersey, the most affordable third of homes saw prices surge 14.7% from a year earlier to a median of $211,281 during the 12 weeks ending May 31, the largest increase out of the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas. Philadelphia and Detroit followed, with prices jumping 13.6% and 13.3%, respectively.
Sellers have the upper hand
Amanda Doucette, 27, learned the hard way that she and her husband had to make their offer as competitive as possible, or they’d be left in the dust.
Earlier this month, they made a bid on a home built in 2015 in Grant Park, a newer subdivision in Columbus, Ohio, just a day after it was listed. But there were at least 15 other offers, and they found themselves on the losing end of a bidding war.
The house was on the market for $420,000, and they offered to pay at least $10,000 more and take care of the costs of an appraisal gap if the home was appraised lower than the stated purchase price. Still, the seller chose another buyer.
"My husband and I are fortunate to both work in a field that pays well, we have good credit scores and saved money for a down payment," Doucette says, who works as a physician assistant at a local hospital in the city. "But we’re still having a hard time finding a home we can afford. Homeownership is difficult even if you do everything right.”