Alabama has distributed over 1.5 million facemasks, biohazard kits and other pieces of gear and equipment to hospitals, nursing homes and licensed EMS providers to aid in the fight against COVID-19.

Dana H. Billingsley, assistant general counsel for the Alabama Department of Public Health, told AL.com Thursday in a letter that the department distributed one million surgical masks and 400,000 N95 masks last week.

Surgical masks provide limited protection against transmission of coronavirus, but N95 masks can keep out the particles via which the disease spreads.

There is currently a nationwide shortage of personal protective gear including both types of masks, and many health professionals and ordinary citizens have had to improvise in hospitals and other settings across the country to try to avoid infection.

Because no one knows how long the COVID-19 pandemic will last, it's impossible to say exactly how many masks and other pieces of protective equipment Alabama will need.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has estimated that America's battle against coronavirus will require 3.5 billion masks. The federal agency currently had less than 50 million masks stockpiled as of last month, HHS Secretary Alex Azar told Congress.

The Alabama Department of Public Health letter said it also distributed 100,000 biological hazard kits to hospitals, nursing homes and EMS providers last week, and that "2,000 body bags remain available."

The letter added that the ADPH has distributed other specialized gear and equipment to assist with the effort to battle the coronavirus in Alabama.

"EP team ‘go-kits’, lab specimen collection kits were distributed for use during this emergency; and Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and PI federal assets were received and distributed last week," the ADPH's letter said.

COVID-19 continues to spread across Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said that the state had three confirmed deaths from the virus and 538 confirmed positive cases as of Friday morning.