White House task force projects N95 supply could soon meet demand

The White House Supply Chain Task Force projects the nation will have enough N95 masks to meet pandemic demand for July through October, according to a report released to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for a hearing yesterday on federal efforts to procure and distribute supplies to fight the pandemic.

The report also projects that the nation will have enough gowns (including reusable ones), surgical masks, nitrile gloves and face shields in July, but does not include later projections for those supplies. Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Peter Gaynor released the report at the request of Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who said the estimates should have been available sooner and yesterday requested longer-term projections for personal protective equipment and similar projections for testing supplies.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., yesterday asked a federal oversight committee to investigate whether the administration’s Project Air Bridge initiative to obtain and distribute PPE and medical supplies for the pandemic has been cost-effective.