MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — The Strategic National Stockpile, the United State's repository of various medical supplies, has begun to be distributed to states across the country, including Arizona.
While any amount of the federal stockpile of items, such as personal protective equipment, is certainly welcomed by communities, Maricopa County officials say it's simply not enough.
"While helpful, these allocations are nowhere close to the needs of a community our size," Director of Public Health Marcy Flanagan said.
As of April 1, Maricopa County has received 100% of its allocation from the national stockpile, officials said in a press conference on Monday. However, the amount given to healthcare and hospital systems in the county won't even last until next week.
"To put this into perspective, our healthcare and hospital systems use about 544,000 surgical masks per week," Flanagan said. "We received 263,000 surgical masks. As you can see, this amount will not even support our hospitals for a week."
Officials said the problem does not stem from a budgeting issue in the county but rather points to a national problem in the supply chain.
A decision had to be made on where best to distribute the small amount of PPE received from the stockpile, officials said. The county went with Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine's decision on prioritizing the PPE allocation for the county's more than 500 long-term care centers, due to what happened in Washington state.
"What we know from states like Washington is that when you get one single case of COVID-19 in a long-term care facility, you tend to see rapid spread," Dr. Sunenshine said. "You also see higher levels of severe disease, because the people who tend to live in long-term care facilities tend to be older with more underlying health conditions."
Officials stated long-term care facilities include skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, and assisted living and hospice spaces.
The shortage of PPE resources from the federal government are being felt by other states as well, such as Illinois and New York. Arizona in its entirety has currently received 75% of its allocation of the stockpile.
The shortage is not looking to be solved any time soon either, as the Trump administration changed the definition of the Strategic National Stockpile on April 3 to narrow the stockpile's role for states.
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