Face shields, but no testing swabs: New documents show Pennsylvania has received only part of coronavirus supplies requested from FEMA

Morning Call (Allentown, PA)

More than 869,000 surgical masks. Some 690,000 gloves. Another 615,000 N95 respirator masks, plus testing equipment, surgical gowns and more face shields.

Pennsylvania had requested those items and more from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as health care providers scrambled to ensure they had enough equipment for the surging coronavirus outbreak.

But at the end of last month, much of those requests remained unfulfilled, according to documents released Thursday by the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Only 18% of the industry-grade N95 masks are listed as delivered, and none of the 10,000 testing swabs and transport tubes have arrived. Two-thirds of the gloves were sent. One line item of nearly 111,000 face shields was fulfilled, but another request for an additional 62,000 has a zero for amount received.

The documents detail the requests and supplies delivered to states in FEMA’s Region III, which includes Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Collectively, those states requested 5.2 million N95 respirator masks, and have received only 445,000. One state, Maryland, requested 15,000 body bags. It has not received any.

Asked about the documents, a FEMA spokesperson said the agency’s pandemic response plans acknowledge that the Strategic National Stockpile alone could not fulfill all state requests, but that federal officials are seeking additional ways to meet those demands.

Those efforts have included coordinating flights of supplies from Asia, which began landing on Sunday, the FEMA spokesperson added.

A spokeswoman for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf did not return a request for comment Thursday.

The itemized lists of those requests and shipments are an example of how demand across the country has outstripped the federal government’s ability to be a backstop for personal protective equipment amid the outbreak. Supplies in the Strategic National Stockpile are nearly gone, according to reports this week.

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said health care providers “need greater access” to protective equipment and other critical supplies, and that his staff is in regular contact with the governor’s office and state health care providers “actively troubleshooting and directing traffic as needed.”

“We will continue to aggressively advocate for Pennsylvania’s health care providers until they get the materials they need,” Toomey said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said the documents released Thursday "demonstrate how unprepared the Trump Administration was for this pandemic, ignoring early warning signs that could have provided valuable time to prepare, including by ramping up production of critical medical supplies.”

“Every state is struggling with similar critical shortages of respirators and other personal protective equipment and medical supplies; no one has enough, including the federal government," Casey added.

President Donald Trump has bristled at criticism from some Democratic governors that the federal government has fallen short, tweeting Thursday morning that “some have insatiable appetites" and “are never satisfied.”

“Remember, we are a backup for them," Trump wrote on Twitter. “The complainers have been stocked up and ready long before this crisis hit.”

Wolf signed a bill last week authorizing up to $50 million to buy medical supplies for hospitals, nursing homes, and emergency workers fighting the virus outbreak.

Pennsylvania also created a procurement portal so that manufacturers of critical supplies, like ventilators, could alert state officials to any products they have available for purchase.

Washington correspondent Laura Olson can be reached at 202-780-9540 or [email protected].

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