Unfulfilled PPE contracts leave states scrambling for supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic

Washington CNN — After weeks of “wild west” wrangling between state governments for critical medical supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic, personal protective equipment still remains scarce for some frontline workers. “We had no choice but to overturn every rock to find ventilators and other needed equipment,” Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to New York’s Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, told CNN in a statement. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called it a “wild west.” The supply chain problems states have grappled with made their way into the White House on Wednesday, when the president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners told President Donald Trump that access to PPE like masks and gowns still remains “sporadic” in some spots around the country. “Some shipments we’ll be accepting to handle the ongoing public health crisis and prepare for future emergencies and other agreements will be modified or canceled with money refunded to the state.” New York has since moved to set up a “regional supply chain consortium” with neighboring northeastern states with the goal of stabilizing the supply chain workshopping new solutions as the pandemic persists.