Illinois becoming desperate for federal government to send medical supplies to fight coronavirus

CNN — The state of Illinois is desperate to receive medical supplies to fight the coronavirus outbreak but the Trump administration is barely providing the state with anything, a senior state official told CNN on Wednesday. Referring to “Project Airbridge” – an airlift of supplies provided by the federal government and private health care distributors and helmed by White House senior adviser and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – the official said that “the Airbridge that Trump and Pence talk about coming to Illinois – all the goods went to other states. “They are not sending any more.” The Trump administration had also said that it had sent Illinois 300,000 N95 masks, which is what doctors wear when treating individuals infected with a virus. The official added, “We are just not counting on anything and are likely not to be able to procure what we need in ventilators by the time we hit peak later this month.” Pritzker said at a news conference on Monday that the shipment of personal protective equipment was the third that Illinois has received from the federal government, and it arrived Sunday. Pritzker said that in its first request several weeks ago, the state asked for over 1.2 million N95 masks, 900,000 surgical masks, 1.6 million gloves, 24,000 gowns, 24,000 goggles, 120,000 face shields and 4,000 respirators – but received “a fraction” of that, as it did with its second, larger request.