Washington (CNN) Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said Thursday night that being unable to get supplies to fight the coronavirus outbreak is a big challenge for rural states to reopen as President Donald Trump pushes to revive a stalled US economy.

Like other Plains states, Kansas -- which remains under a stay-at-home order until May 3 -- hasn't seen the widespread surge of Covid-19 that has rocked major population centers and the coastal areas of the US. The state had just 1,615 cases of the virus out of the more than 667,000 cases in the nation as of Thursday evening.

In turn, the Democrat said Kansas has had a hard time procuring the medical equipment that public health officials agree is necessary to relax social distancing measures -- especially when, based on projections, the state has yet to reach the peak of its outbreak.

"Kansas -- and I think many of the smaller states, particularly in the Midwest, where we haven't seen these real hot spots develop -- you know, have really had a hard time getting the supplies that we need," Kelly told CNN's Erin Burnett on "OutFront," noting that her state is "very different."

"We now have put in, I think, seven to nine orders to FEMA and not received anything. And that clearly has to stop, because not only do we need it for our health care workers, we also are a huge agricultural state," Kelly added. "We have a lot of meatpacking plants in the state of Kansas. We need that personal protection equipment so that those folks can continue to do their jobs and continue to feed the nation."

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