Scanlon to Trump: Ramp up protective gear production
U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5, of Swarthmore,on Wednesday called on President Donald Trump to launch a concerted effort right away to get personal protective equipment in the hands of those who need them.
“I write with the deepest concern to request that the administration immediately launch a coordinated and comprehensive federal effort to address the critical medical supply chain issues limiting the supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as we battle the coronavirus pandemic,” Scanlon wrote to the president, the Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Peter T. Gaynor; U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar; Rear Admiral John P. Polowczyk, vice director for logistics, logistics directorate for the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Peter Navarro, the national Defense Production Act policy coordinator.
She said a supply response is needed now as first responders are crowdsourcing for their own equipment.’
“As in the rest of the country, local agencies and medical providers in Southeastern Pennsylvania have identified critical shortages of PPE necessary for preventing the spread of COVID-19 and protecting medical professionals, particularly N95 masks,” the congresswoman wrote. “Shortages are so severe that health care providers (HCPs) and first responders have resorted to crowdsourcing PPE piecemeal from our community - this is unacceptable.”
She spoke of how traditional manufacturing and supply chains aren’t working, even with the supplementation by the Strategic National Stockpile as evident by the hundreds of requests her office has received in just the past two weeks from hospitals, local agencies and health care providers desperate for these critical medical supplies.
“Many medical workers do not have access to the N95 masks needed to prevent infection, and many that do are being told to reuse single-use masks, often for days at a time, storing them in a paper bag at their workstations between patients,” Scanlon said.
Then, she spoke to the market challenges, particularly with gouging, fraud and hoarding.
“Health care systems in my district are reporting that masks which usually cost 75 cents, are now only being offered for $8-$10 or more, if they can be found at all,” Scanlon wrote, adding, “Unscrupulous sellers are offering counterfeit PPE that may expose users to infection and are taking payment for orders but failing to deliver.”
The congresswoman also addressed how all of these frontline workers must scramble for essential equipment.
“In the absence of coordinated federal distribution, hospitals, states and local governments are competing for the same scarce resources,” Scanlon said. “Additionally, the federal government’s belated attempts to procure PPE are further disrupting the supply chain.”
She pointed out an incident last week when FEMA diverted a confirmed shipment of 80,000 prepaid masks to a Pennsylvania hospital, which had been counting on those masks to protect workers and patients.
The congresswoman urged the president to massively increase manufacturing of this medical equipment, clarifying allotment guidance and tackling the price gouging - all in order to save lives.
“Under these circumstances, the administration must use all resources at its disposal to produce and distribute essential medical supplies,” Scanlon
wrote. “A fragmented and haphazard response by the federal government is unacceptable in this global crisis.”
The Defense Production Act gives the president the authority to direct manufacturers to produce needed equipment, such as PPE in this case. The congresswoman implored him to centralize PPE production and distribution as way to combat the crisis.
Regarding distribution, she called on FEMA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to issue “clear and consistent guidance” on how the PPE is allocated from the Strategic National Stockpile or other federal manufacturing contracts as the case warrants.
She said not enough has been done.
“Thus far, the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been fatally slow and uncoordinated,” Scanlon wrote. “The failure to heed the advice of medical experts, or implement the pandemic response procedures recommended by the National Security Council (NSC), has left our frontline medical providers dangerously under equipped to combat this pandemic. I urge you to take immediate steps to implement the suggestions outlined in this letter, and save American lives.”