FEMA, racing to provide virus relief, is running short on front-line staff.

A makeshift morgue in New York on Thursday.Credit...Jonah Markowitz for The New York Times

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the office leading the U.S. government’s coronavirus response nationwide, is running short of employees who are trained in some of its most important front-line jobs, according to interviews with current and former officials.

At the same time, the agency has been forced to halt a major hiring initiative and has closed training facilities to avoid spreading the infection.

The number of available personnel qualified to lead field operations has fallen to 19 from 44 in less than six weeks, as many of those leaders have been assigned to run operations in states with virus-related disaster declarations. Additional staff members are also being pulled from responding to other disasters.

Training centers in Maryland and Alabama have been shuttered until mid-May, and an effort to recruit new employees is on hold, according to a senior administration official with direct knowledge of FEMA’s operations.

With wildfire season looming and hurricane season starting in less than two months, the shortfalls could complicate federal response to disasters nationwide.

DISASTER RELIEF“FEMA has never faced a 50-state disaster before.”

Reference: NY Times