New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said relying on China for personal protective equipment is a national security issue.
On Sunday, Cuomo ordered all New York hospitals to build a 90-day supply of PPE to prepare for another wave of coronavirus, CNBC reports.
New York is launching a regional buying consortium with six other Northeastern states to stock up on PPE, tests, ventilators and other medical equipment as well as reduce competition among states in an effort to lower prices.
“We put together a de facto public health system,” Cuomo said during a press briefing. “We can’t go through this day to day in this mad scramble to move masks to where they were needed.”
He said previous efforts to get masks from China were “inefficient and ineffective."
“That’s a national security issue to me,” Cuomo said. “You have to be able to get masks and gowns and whatever medical equipment you need so this nation can run a healthcare system in the middle of an emergency.”
States fought against each other and the federal government to find enough medical supplies to deal with the outbreak.
“That we have to go to China for the PPE? I mean think about that — you couldn’t even get it in this nation,” Cuomo said. “We started making our own in this state.”
The new effort came after states struggled to get supplies. Cuomo said it was frustrating that Massachusetts and New York had to rely on New England Patriots owner and billionaire businessman Robert Kraft to send a private plane to China to procure masks.
“That’s how we handle a global pandemic? I have to call Mr. Kraft and say can you do me a favor, Gov. Baker, as long as the plane is going can you pick up masks for me?” Cuomo said. “You can’t be dependent on China to have the basic equipment to save lives in the United States, that’s what this came down to.”
He said the states will be able to "control our own destiny rather than everyone trying to figure out how to buy from China."
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