California strikes deal to buy 200 million masks a month, says Gavin Newsom

A man wears a n95 mask while holding an umbrella during a rainfall in Berkeley, Calif. on March 25, 2020. A man wears a n95 mask while holding an umbrella during a rainfall in Berkeley, Calif. on March 25, 2020. Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Photo: Douglas Zimmerman/SFGate Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close California strikes deal to buy 200 million masks a month, says Gavin Newsom 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom left TV host Rachel Maddow stunned Tuesday night when he said on her show that he "inked a deal" for the state to buy 200 million masks a month.

"You are making significant news here, governor," Maddow said.

Newsom explained the mask windfall is the result of a consortium of nonprofits and a California company that will be manufacturing mostly N95 masks overseas, and supplying the needs of California residents and workers, as well as possibly those in other Western states.

NEWS: Gov. Gavin Newsom: California has inked deal for 200 million masks (150 million N95, 50 million surgical) per month, enough to meet state's needs and potentially export to other states pic.twitter.com/mmMRZYOrLq — Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) April 8, 2020

Newsom said the state has faced price-gouging while competing against other states, the federal government and other nations for masks. Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, the state has distributed 41 million masks, and of those, 1 million came from the federal government.

"We were going out and getting five million here, 500,000 there, 200,000 there, and competing against other states, competing against the federal government," Newsom said. "We decided enough of this small ball. Let's use our purchasing power. Let's go at scale."

"We’re not waiting around any longer," Newsom added.

Newsom said the state can expect about 150 million N95 masks and 50 million surgical masks to be delivered to the state within a couple weeks.

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Amy Graff is a digital editor. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.