In 2006, when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California, he set up a $200 million emergency preparedness effort to deal with any potential future pandemic. During that time, the bird flu had emerged, and he realized it was vital the state has sufficient supplies to handle a disaster like infectious disease outbreaks, or even major earthquakes – any catastrophic event that could kill hundreds of thousands.
He said in a phone interview with Politico:
I thought we have to be prepared — because we are the fifth largest economy in the world. And as public servants, our ultimate responsibility is not just to make a budget balance, but to save lives.
Unfortunately, in 2011 when the state was facing a $26 billion deficit, Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers abandoned Schwarzenegger’s emergency medical program by withdrawing the funding to maintain supplies. Now the state is scrambling to prepare for a surge of coronavirus cases, and the stockpile that had included mobile hospitals and medical gear is non-existent.
Yet, the former governor never explicitly criticized Brown for doing that. He just said:
Yes, there was a budget crunch … it’s easy for them to just look at the numbers, but not really to visualize disaster. They obviously made their judgments to take those expenditures out … and to worry about a few million dollars. Would I have done it? No. But I understand that every governor and every administration looks at those things differently.
On March 31st, Schwarzenegger personally delivered a cargo of 50,000 masks to doctors on the front lines of the pandemic — a gesture of appreciation and support for the Frontline Responders Fund. The fund is a GoFundMe effort to raise money for equipment desperately needed during the ongoing coronavirus crisis. He donated $1 million already, and the cause has raised $5 million to date with significant donations from others, including Hollywood luminaries like Edward Norton, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, and angel investor Ron Conway.
The masks were procured by the Bay Area-based logistics firm Flexport – which also had 60,000 surgical masks, 34,000 gloves, 2,000 surgical gowns, and 50 thermometers delivered to San Francisco’s Department of Public Health.
When asked about how the federal government has responded to the coronavirus pandemic, Schwarzenegger said:
The federal government has not been as quick in their response as they could have been…The thing is, did you learn from your mistakes? And did you admit your weaknesses? … Because the way you improve is by just acknowledging, ‘OK, you know, this is a screw-up, or I made a mistake there.’ And [to say], ‘This would never happen again.’
In regards to how California Gov. Gavin Newsom has responded, Schwarzenegger gave high marks – especially for his early order to shelter in place, which may have saved lives. He said:
I think that he did a terrific job to be on top of it — and to stay on top of it. Whatever he needs me to do, I’ll do … I want to support him.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger has been posting messages on Twitter daily. He writes about staying healthy and engaged during the pandemic. He stresses that now is a critical time for Californians and that each citizen must act on their own by volunteering or giving to causes that help the medical sector so they can save lives safely.
He said:
government can only do so much. At the end of the day … it goes back to people power. And ‘we the people’ have the power to do our share — and just stay home.
First and foremost, above all, stay home.
