Many States Disposing Of Excess, Expiring Protective Gear Left Over From COVID-19 Pandemic
December 21, 2023
The AP (12/20, Peltz, Lieb) reports, “When the coronavirus pandemic took hold in an unprepared US, many states...scrambled for masks and other protective gear,” but now they are “trying to deal with an excess of protective gear, ditching their supplies in droves.” In Ohio, “with expiration dates passing and few requests to tap into the stockpile,” the state “auctioned off 393,000 gowns for just $2,451 and ended up throwing away another 7.2 million, along with expired masks, gloves and other materials” that “had cost about $29 million in federal money.” So far, “an Associated Press investigation found that at least 15 states...have tossed some of their trove of PPE because of expiration, surpluses and a lack of willing takers.”