U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sent a letter to President Trump demanding an explanation for why New York State, which has substantially more confirmed COVID-19 cases than any other state, has not …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sent a letter to President Trump demanding an explanation for why New York State, which has substantially more confirmed COVID-19 cases than any other state, has not received its full allotment of PPE and medical supplies, while other states, such as Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Florida, have reportedly had their requests filled completely.
Gillibrand called on Trump to deliver clarity and transparency on how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is allocating resources and provide information on where medical supplies have been allocated thus far.
As The Washington Post noted in its original story, certain states like Kentucky, Oklahoma and Florida, have received 100%, and in some cases more, of the medical supplies that they requested, while other states like New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and others, are still short.
The Post noted, for example, that "Oklahoma received 120,000 face shields despite requesting only 16,000, according to the state’s health department. North Carolina, by contrast, requested 500,000 medical coveralls and received 306, state records show."
Multiple New York hospitals have reported that their orders for PPE have been diverted to other recipients or that they cannot successfully procure medical equipment and PPE because they are being outbid by the federal government.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has stated that New York needs 40,000 ventilators for hospitals in the state, but FEMA has only provided 4,400 from the Strategic National Stockpile, the senator’s office said.