When the coronavirus pandemic took hold in an unprepared United States, states scrambled to procure masks and other protective equipment.
Three years later, as the effects of the pandemic ease, many states are now trying to deal with excess protective equipment, cutting supplies all together.
With their expiration dates passed and few requests to use the stockpile, Ohio auctioned off 393,000 gowns for just $2,451, ultimately discarding another 7.2 million along with expired masks, gloves, and other materials. I decided to do it. The expired supplies cost about $29 million in federal funds.
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Similar calculations are occurring across the country. With supplies aging and federal COVID-19 relief funding due next year, states must decide how much to invest in maintaining warehouses and stockpiling supplies.
Medical workers are seen as police officers and pedestrians cheer for them outside NYU Medical Center on April 16, 2020 in New York. Some states that stockpiled millions of masks and other personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic are now throwing them away. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
An Associated Press investigation found that at least 15 states, from Alaska to Vermont, are discarding some of their personal protective equipment stockpiles due to expiration, surplus or lack of willing takers. It turned out that there was.
More than 18 million masks, 22 million gowns, and more than 500,000 gloves were thrown into the trash. This does not include states that did not provide accurate numbers to The Associated Press or respond to lawsuits or other actions. Rhode Island announced it has discarded 829 tons of PPE. Maryland disposed of more than $93 million in supplies.
Dr. Georges Benjamin said: “What a waste. This is what happens when a public health system collapses or booms and you're not prepared.” The lack of planning is urgent. He said this sometimes leads to panicked over-purchasing. Executive Director of the American Public Health Association. “This shows that we need to manage our stockpiles better.”
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Over the past few months, The Associated Press has sent inquiries to all 50 states about stockpiling PPE. About half responded.
States emphasize that they have distributed far more equipment than they have discarded and have gone to great lengths to donate leftovers. Washington state sent hundreds of thousands of supplies to the Marshall Islands last year, but ended up discarding millions more that had expired.
Many states are storing at least some, and in some cases all, of their remaining protective gear. Some are planning to update their stockpiles.
But the vagaries of the pandemic and the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) have left some people acquiring supplies and having to reluctantly throw them away. Expiration dates are set to ensure protections work as intended, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency sets the fair market value of expired supplies at $0.
“Whenever you find yourself in a situation where you have to remember how difficult it was to get something in the first place and see if it will stop working or be used as intended, There's some frustration with that,” said Louis Eubank, who heads the South Carolina Department of Health's COVID-19 Coordination Office. The state has discarded more than 650,000 expired masks.
When the virus broke out, demand for N95 masks, gloves, and gowns skyrocketed. The U.S. government's Strategic National Stockpile was underequipped, and countries entered into a global bidding war.
The Associated Press found in 2020 that states spent more than $7 billion in a few months on PPE, ventilators and other high-demand medical equipment in a seller's market. The federal government ultimately paid for much of the supplies.
“At the time of the purchase, there was no way to know how long the shortage would last or how much would be needed,” said Ken Gordon, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health.
Ohio has distributed more than 227 million pieces of protective equipment during the pandemic. But as supply shortages and the health crisis eased, demand for gowns in particular declined.
Right now, “states, hospitals, manufacturers, everyone across the system has excess product,” said Linda Rouse O'Neill of the Health Industry Distribution Association.
Given the oversupply, stockpiles are being sold at bargain prices, if at all. Vermont earned him $82.50 for 105,000 boot covers and 29 cents each for thousands of safety goggles.
Balancing preparedness and surplus is a “big dilemma” for governments, said Scott Amy of the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group Government Oversight Project. And while politicians vowed never to be caught off guard again in 2020, “memories are short and budgets are tight,” Aimee noted.
In Wisconsin, a legislative committee eliminated $17.2 million in funding to fund a warehouse with a continuous supply of PPE for 60 days for two years.
The state health department said it is currently “clearing warehouses” and attempting to donate supplies. Nearly 1.7 million masks and 1 million gowns have already been thrown away in Wisconsin.
The Minnesota Department of Health has been allocated funding and strategies to maintain and replenish PPE this year. For now, officials plan to dispose of several expired gowns, Emergency Management Director Deb Ruddy said.
The Health Industry Distributors Association recommends that product distributors maintain a 60 to 90-day supply in case of a spike in demand. But the group says there's no need to have such a large cushion for everyone participating in the system, from manufacturers to clinics.
The Missouri Department of Health stores even expired materials and maintains a 90-day supply, assuming the federal government authorizes it for emergency use. It happened during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
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“If we don't make an investment, and perhaps never spend it, we may not be ready to help our people when they need it most,” said Missouri Department of Health Commissioner Paula Nickelson.
In contrast, Pennsylvania officials are aiming for a 15-day stockpile after having a frank conversation about what they can afford to not only keep but keep replacing if it expires, according to the Department of Health. said Andy Pickett, director of emergency preparedness and response.
And Nevada can't retire its aging personal protective equipment fast enough.
Department of Public Administration Director Jack Robb said the state is working to dispose of supplies safely and without waste, and has already disposed of some.
But Robb said officials “made the best decision possible” in the face of a disease that has killed nearly 7 million people worldwide, including some of his closest friends.
“And I hope something like that never happens again in our lifetime,” he said.
