WASHINGTON — The federal government sent over 1 million units of personal protective equipment to Connecticut from the Strategic National Stockpile, but the most of the shipments were based on out-dated population data, not what Connecticut requested or the size of the state’s outbreak, new data from the House Oversight Committee shows.

Now, shipments to states from the federal stockpile are done, according to the statements made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the Committee earlier this week.

The news comes as Connecticut hospitals are burning through thousands of pieces of precious personal protective equipment per day, as the number of coronavirus cases in the state nears 9,000 with over 1,400 people currently hospitalized.

“Right now, we have capacity on PPE to take care of most of our frontline responders,” said Gov. Ned Lamont. “We’re going to do better on that.”

Connecticut is operating as if it won’t receive more federal supplies any time soon, making aggressive efforts to buy more personal protective equipment on its own, officials said Thursday. It has spent tens of millions to buy PPE on the private market.

From the stockpile, Connecticut is receiving 189,665 N-95 respirators, 450,883 surgical masks, 459,069 gloves, 93,606 face shields, 76,807 surgical gowns, 3,658 coveralls and 50 ventilators. Supplies from the national stockpile first starting arrived in Connecticut on March 22, based on Oversight Committee data published Wednesday, and it’s unclear if all shipments have now been delivered.

In several supply categories, the total Connecticut received from the stockpile is less than the state’s initial request made March 11. Connecticut asked for 250,000 each of N-95 respirators, surgical masks, gloves, face shields, gowns and coveralls.

In total, the state got nearly twice the surgical masks and gloves it asked for in its initial request, but only three-quarter of the respirators requested and about half the face shields and surgical gowns. Connecticut received 1.5 percent of the coveralls it asked for.

The federal shipments from the national stockpile were not based on state’s requests, HHS staff told the Oversight Committee on April 7.

Instead, the first two shipments to states were allocated pro-rata-based on 2010 population data. Connecticut’s population decreased by 0.2 percent from 2010 to 2019, based on U.S. Census data, or roughly 8,800 people - meaning the state likely received more PPE per capita in the first two shipments than other states that had significant population increases from 2020 to 2019.

In the last shipment, called the “final push,” states received either one allocation of thousands of PPE items or an allocation twice that. For example, some states received 60,450 N-95 respirators and some got 120,900.

Connecticut, which has 8,781 confirmed coronavirus cases, received 120,900 N-95 masks - or roughly 3 per 100 residents in the state. Vermont, which has only 628 cases, received the same amount - that’s about 19 respirators per 100 Vermont residents.

Neighboring New York - the state with the worst outbreak in the nation with 149,401 cases - received two of these final push shipments, one for the state at large and one for New York City. That’s 241,800 N-95 masks or about 1 per 100 New York residents.

No more stockpile shipments

HHS staff stated that the Trump Administration has made its final shipments of personal protective equipment to states from the stockpile, accounting for 90 percent of the stockpile’s inventory of N95 respirators, surgical and face masks, face shields, gowns, and gloves. The remaining 10 percent of PPE in the stockpile is reserved for federal workers and will not be distributed to states, HHS said on April 7.

Procuring PPE, ventilators and other supplies has been the largest source of conflict between state governors and the White House as the epidemic has unfolded. States have been competing against the federal government to buy medical supplies on the private market, while decrying the fact that they are not receiving enough supplies from the national stockpile and demanding more support for their states.

On March 31, Gov. Ned Lamont declared the national stockpile was “empty” and Connecticut was now “on its own” to secure more of the desperately needed supplies to protect workers from the coronavirus.

President Donald Trump retorted that it was “not empty,” but many goods were being moved directly from manufacturer to hospital or state, skipping a stop at the stockpile.

“We’re trying to have supply sent directly to the states,” Trump said. “We don’t want medical supplies coming in to warehouses all over the place and then we take then from there and bring them to another warehouse. So we’re having them brought ideally from the manufacturer ideally to the hospital or the state where it’s going.”

The administration has tried to rebrand the national stockpile as an emergency surplus for the federal government - not states which also have their own local stockpiles. The stockpile, paid for by taxpayers dollars, is only a supplement to states, administration officials have said.

“The notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile,” Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law who has joined the administration’s coronavirus logistics efforts, said on April 2.

“It’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use.”

The HHS website, which previously said the stockpile was “for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out,” was subsequently updated to say stockpile supplies would go to states that need them most in emergencies.

Additionally, Trump has said states have been requesting supplies they don’t really need and states are forgetting about supplies they are already have.

But Connecticut and other states are reporting to the Federal Emergency Management Agency every day their case data, testing, supply levels and bed space, so the administration can respond to the outbreak, a state official said.

Meanwhile, Kushner has recounted hopping on the phone with heads of city hospitals systems, asking about their needs and deploying thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment bought by the federal government the next day.

The Trump administration has used the Defense Production Act on several occasions to spur production of ventilators and other personal protective equipment. It has also launched “Project Airbridge” to fly in millions of supplies from other countries.

Administration staff told the House Oversight Committee the federal government is not taking control of the supplies flown into the U.S. in “Project Airbridge” or directing private sector suppliers to send supplies to particular hospitals with urgent needs.

Suppliers are required only to agree to sell half of their shipments to customers in “hotspots” such as New York, New Jersey, New Orleans, Detroit, and Chicago, the Committee said. Suppliers are not required to reimburse the federal government for the cost of air shipment.

Connecticut received a significant shipment of masks that it purchased Wednesday and more PPE is coming next week, state officials said. It has also been receiving donations of supplies.

After it receives shipments, the state distributes the supplies to local hospitals and health centers.

“We’ve had to be much more creative in our procurement strategies, but we’ve been successful in that regard,” said Josh Geballe, chief operating officer for the state of Connecticut, Wednesday. “In the coming days and weeks, we’re going to see a significant influx of PPE into the state of Connecticut that will alleviate the challenges we’ve been facing.”

emilie.munson@hearstdc.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson