Northwell CEO Michael Dowling: 'Federal government was slow to respond' to coronavirus

Michael Dowling, president and CEO of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, told CNBC the federal government could have acted more quickly to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"I do think that the federal government was slow to respond," Mr. Dowling told CNBC. "We activated our emergency management system six weeks ago when at the federal level people were talking about, 'Don't worry about this; it's going to go away.'"

The White House disagreed with Mr. Dowling's take, noting in an email to CNBC that President Donald Trump instituted travel restrictions and quarantines "very early" on, according to the report.

While Mr. Dowling believes the worst is yet to come, he said Northwell is well prepared and has been working with other health systems to prepare for the outbreak. Northwell received approval to conduct manual COVID-19 tests at its lab, and is waiting for approval to do automatic tests, according to the report.

Read more here.

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