The federal government’s emergency stockpile of respirator masks, gloves, and other medical supplies has been nearly drained by the coronavirus pandemic.
Two Homeland Security Department officials told the Washington Post that the personal protective equipment items kept in the Health and Human Services Department’s Strategic National Stockpile are nearly depleted — despite the White House claiming otherwise.
“The stockpile was designed to respond to a handful of cities. It was never built or designed to fight a 50-state pandemic,” one official said. “This is not only a U.S. government problem. The supply chain for PPE worldwide has broken down, and there is a lot of price gouging happening.”
During Tuesday’s White House briefing on the pandemic, President Trump said the administration has nearly 10,000 ventilators on reserve, and the government would deploy the equipment to cities hit hard by the coronavirus in the coming weeks.
Governors have begged federal authorities to send more equipment and protective gear as coronavirus cases skyrocket. Some governors have said they’re having to compete against other states for the medical supplies.
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said the government expected the Strategic National Stockpile would be depleted, and the administration is moving quickly to acquire and distribute the supplies.
“FEMA planning assumptions for COVID-19 pandemic response acknowledged that the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) alone could not fulfill all requirements at the State and tribal level,” Janet Montesi, a FEMA spokeswoman, said in a statement. “The federal government will exhaust all means to identify and attain medical and other supplies needed to combat the virus.”
She said the federal government has more than $16 billion to purchase the supplies.
