Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter asking why Massachusetts has been outbid by the federal government on at least three separate occasions and had two shipments seized.

In the five-page letter to the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Peter Gaynor, Warren pointing out that the lost orders were for ventilators and hundreds of respirators.

Warren criticized the federal government and President Donald J. Trump for his failure to adequately support Massachusetts and other states during this crisis. Citing its refusal to use key procurement and allocation authorities such as the Defense Production Act.

On March 5, the state requested 750,000 N95 masks, surgical masks, pairs of non-sterile gloves, pieces of eye protection equipment, powered air-purifying respirators, and surgical gowns. Warren points out that the government has failed to fulfill this request.

“Our nation’s health care system badly needs more resources to test, diagnose, and treat COVID-19 patients,” wrote Warren. “But President Trump’s has underused, or failed to use at all, key procurement and allocation authorities available to the federal government, creating a logistical black hole in the federal COVID-19 response that has left states struggling to find key medical supplies on their own.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his press conference Tuesday that FEMA is driving vendors prices up by bidding on top of the 50 states in the union for medical equipment.

"Not everybody should have to buy everything," said Cuomo. "It's almost impossible to buy ventilators. FEMA is buying all the ventilators."

Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said to the Boston Globe that after state officials had successfully put in two separate orders for N95 respirator masks and ventilators, these orders were seized and impounded by the federal government.

In Massachusetts alone, there have been more than 42,000 individuals tested, with the number of positive cases rising to 5,752 on Monday with 56 deaths. As of March 30, there have been 798,866 cases worldwide with over 36,000 deaths reported and that number continues to grow.

“Massachusetts state officials are continuing to face federal impediments as they scramble to find essential medical equipment to respond to a public health emergency,” Warren wrote in the letter. “This is unacceptable, and I request answers on behalf of the Commonwealth.”

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