ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida’s chief emergency manager says he’s been “chasing ghosts” for weeks in efforts to secure critical protective supplies, an effort that he adds is now improving.
- Supply chain improving in Florida amid coronavirus pandemic
- Florida Division of Emergency Management has distributed suplies to counties
- Chief emergecy manager Jared Moskowitz says N95 masks are still difficult to find
“We’re in a much better place than we were, but N95 mask is still the most difficult piece of personal protection equipment to find.” Jared Moskowitz, Executive Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management said.
Moskowitz said the state agency has since distributed a large assortment to Florida counties, including:
2 million masks
300,000 face shields
50,000+ containers of hand sanitizer
500,000 shoe covers
100,000+ gowns
350,000 gloves
States play a critical role in acquiring and distributing supplies to those on the front lines of disasters and emergencies, such as the coronavirus crisis.
Some agencies appear to be faring better than others.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Winter Park) and Rep. Darren Soto (D-Kissimmee) wrote a joint letter to Governor Ron DeSantis, warning Orlando Police and Orlando Fire departments were “dangerously low” on supplies.
“The demand exceeds the supply, that’s not a Florida issue, it’s a global issue,” Moskowitz said. “We’re competing against everybody except Antarctica for the same five or six pieces of PPE.”
OPD and OFD said in statements to Spectrum News that they are putting forth their best efforts to ensure personnel have the necessary protection supplies, while also requesting any public donations of the supplies.
Orlando Police followed up Tuesday morning, saying over the weekend the City of Orlando received PPE gear and cleaning supplies from Orange County Emergency Management warehouse.
Delayed deliveries and half-stocked boxes of supplies have proven to be a new challenge for counties and cities across Florida.
“We wanted to chase down every lead, because my attitude is we’re going to have eggs in all baskets strategy, this is life-saving equipment and I’m not willing to risk a life because we didn’t chase a lead down,” Moskowitz said. “I discovered there were all sorts of brokers involved that were selling PPE they didn’t have going to warehouses that were empty, giving us cargo flights that didn’t exist.”
The process, however, has been rife with complaints of price gouging and other issues.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on in the market right now. I can’t tell you exactly, but it’s not a normal situation given how much in demand those masks are,” DeSantis said this week.
The governor later told reporters about the distribution issues: “… I can tell you it’s shady as hell, that’s for sure.”
Moskowitz had been one of the most vocal critics, at times focusing on Minnesota-based 3M, a manufacturer of the critical supplies.
“@3M, Hello again. Director of @FLSERT here. I have money, you have masks yet you won’t sell them to me. Stop selling to foreign governments,” Moskowitz tweeted April 2.
Moskowitz argued 3M would not sell directly to states, instead forcing states to use distributors and brokers that continued to release product to ‘the highest bidders’, creating price hikes and smaller volume of supplies.
Moskowitz has often characterized the process of trying to obtain supplies as “chasing ghosts" putting in orders for supplies only to find out the distributor doesn’t have the supplies in stock.
3M told Spectrum News in a statement that it is taking steps to address price gouging and fraudulent manufacturing, but did not reply to Spectrum News’ question if they would sell directly to the State of Florida.
President Trump announced Monday that 3M will produce 166.5 million masks over the next three months.
Moskowitz also told Spectrum News that after a series of conversations between Governor DeSantis and 3M’s CEO, that progress is being made in acquiring critical supplies.
The cost of the efforts remains unknown.
Moskowitz would not specific the total cost, but alluded that it is likely several hundred million dollars.
“This will go down as the most expensive three or four weeks in logistics history,” Moskowitz said. “We’re running the largest logistics effort ever in Florida, but the Governor said he wanted us to be responsible, but we would not make decisions based on money, but based on needs on the ground.”
Moskowitz added that much of, if not all of, the state’s spending would likely be reimbursed through a series of federal programs.
Inside the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, Moskowitz said there is a team of people continuously looking for supplies and making purchases to ensure agencies are equipped.
For how long the efforts will continue, is anyone’s guess, as Moskowitz said agencies are now preparing for an added challenge: hurricane season.
It offers an analogy as to why Moskowitz said the coronavirus crisis itself is not yet over.
“I want people to stay the course, obviously we’re seeing the curve flatten and that’s good news, and we’re seeing models change and that’s good news, but I want people to think of it I like a hurricane,” Moskowitz said. “Right now we’ve got a hurricane barreling toward us, and it’s just taken its first jog away and slight little touch away from us, so this is not the time to breathe any sigh of relief, it’s to stay vigilant.”