State getting fraction of supplies needed to fight coronavirus

HARTFORD – The state is receiving medical supplies from the federal Strategic National Stockpile to fight the ongoing coronavirus, but the trickle of masks and other items is a fraction of what was requested.

State officials asked for 250,000 face shields for health workers but received only 13,824, six percent of what was requested, a review by Hearst Connecticut Media found.

They did better with surgical masks, receiving 81,500 so far, or 33 percent of what was requested. Other supplies include 72,400 N95 face masks, 29 percent of requested; 34,000 pairs of gloves, 14 percent of requested; and 12,700 surgical gowns, six percent of requested. Av Harris, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Health, acknowledged Connecticut is not receiving what it’s requesting.

“Generally, the full amounts requested have not been fulfilled, only a percentage,” Harris said. “We received a fraction of what we needed from them, and continue to make requests for additional materials, in particular, ventilators.”

Connecticut is not alone. New York Gov. Andrew Coumo has loudly complained about receiving a few thousand ventilators from the national stockpile, not the 30,000 he requested.

That drew a rebuke from President Donald Trump on Friday, who questioned whether New York needed that many ventilators. New York City has become the nation’s epicenter in the battle against the COVID-19. Connecticut is projecting more than 50,000 coronavirus patients in the coming months.

As of late Thursday, the state had 1,012 confirmed cases of caronavirus, 21 people had died and 125 were hospitalized.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, on Friday told reporters he expects more supplies will start flowing from the stockpile.

“Personal protection equipment should be forthcoming,” Blumenthal said. “It’s in the stockpile and it’s been promised. How much will come to Connecticut is still to be determined.”

Josh Geballe, commissioner of the state Department of Administrative Services, said the state on Thursday received its first delivery of coveralls, which he called “a good start. We have four other orders in transit.”

State officials and hospitals are scrambling to buy supplies from the private sector, a process that has drawn complaints of price gouging, fraud and fostering competition between states that’s driving up prices.

Geballe on Thursday said the state has 357 leads for potential equipment buys and officials are sifting through them.

“As we sift through these a majority turn out to be not viable,” Geballe said. “We are getting dozens of emails that turn out to be a scam or bogus or some extreme price gouging.”

Harris said the state’s competitive bidding requirements have been waived.

“Globally, state and local agencies are competing for the same products,” Harris said. “We screen them carefully to determine what products they have, and a variety of other performance and payment questions.”

Harris noted it’s not clear if more supplies will be coming from the national stockpile, which is a horde of various items set aside for emergencies such as a pandemic.

Geballe said the overall procurement process has to be changed.

“Hospitals are competing against themselves,” Geballe said. “More national coordination is needed to get the industrial production up and the distribution coordination.”

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, DConn, has proposed a bill that would force Trump to use the national Defense Procurement Act to increase production of medical supplies and fairly distribute the items.