I Expect a Presidential Reluctance to Declare an Emergency

So far, the president has tended to downplay the impacts of the coronavirus COVID-19 and its arrival here in the United States. Unless his thinking changes, I believe it will be tough for him to make the move to declare a national emergency because of the virus. At some point his health experts and political advisers will need to convince him to do so. 

With such a declaration, all sorts of resources become available via different federal resources. One medical resource is outlined in this article, Why Washington State Is Desperate For Trump To Declare A COVID-19 Emergency, which highlights a health-related resource I have never heard of — until now. 

I have no idea how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is typically the federal agency that administers disaster declarations, would handle 50 state declarations — if that is what happens. Federal rules have to apply, so there could be thousands of applicants. If they just did counties, there are 3,000 in the United States.

Once again — we are in uncharted territory!