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Maddon returns home to raise funds for Hazleton Integration Project

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Glad to be back

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright Friday said health experts agree that PPE is one of the most important tools needed to fight the deadly coronavirus.
				Cartwright, D-Moosic, announced Friday that he has introduced the Managing American Knowledge and Equipment to Prevent Pandemic Emergencies (MAKE PPE) Act to build our domestic manufacturing capacity of personal protective equipment (PPE) and non-pharmaceutical supplies and bolster American preparedness for pandemics.
				&ldquo;We were caught flat-footed when COVID-19 arrived in America, and we continue to grapple with persistent shortages of this equipment because of our limited PPE manufacturing capacity,&rdquo; Cartwright said. &ldquo;This legislation ensures the U.S. has a coordinated strategy to face future health crises and invests in American businesses to consistently produce the PPE we need.&rdquo;
				At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Cartwright said large hospitals in major cities sounded the alarm about the lack of PPE for health care workers fighting on the front lines of the pandemic. He said nurses in New York were forced to wear trash bags as makeshift gowns and told to reuse N95 masks for days and weeks at a time.
				In March, the Strategic National Stockpile had 12 million N95 masks and 30 million surgical masks, only 1% of the 3.5 billion masks that public health officials say are needed this year, Cartwright said.
				In June, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) revealed that the demand for PPE in the U.S. outpaces domestic manufacturing capabilities, which led to an over-reliance on foreign supply chains. Cartwright said the surging global demand for this equipment made it difficult to procure.
				At a hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Reform in July, representatives from six large medical equipment distribution companies that were involved with the Trump Administration&rsquo;s response to the coronavirus reported widespread challenges to providing PPE and other medical supplies to communities in need across the country.
				Industry officials reported that from January to March, repeated requests for guidance from the federal government went unanswered. The administration left local governments and hospitals to fend for themselves, exacerbating already strained budgets and pitting states in competition with each other.
				Some American manufacturers shifted production to simple PPE items like face shields and hand sanitizer, only to find the market flooded with similar products while more complicated equipment, like N95 respirator masks used by health care workers, remain in short supply. Small- and mid-sized manufacturers cite prohibitive costs and high levels of risk preventing them from entering the PPE space.
				&ldquo;Without federal assistance, many American manufacturing companies cannot afford to expand production capabilities,&rdquo; Cartwright said.
				Six months into the pandemic, Cartwright said N95 respirator masks and other PPE remain hard to find.
				Cartwright said the MAKE PPE Act would address what has traditionally been a major gap in planning and preparedness efforts by ensuring adequate domestic production capacity for PPE and other critical supplies needed to respond to a public health emergency. Specifically, he said this bill would require FEMA to execute a national strategy to meet PPE manufacturing and distribution needs through a centralized office.
				Other key provisions include:
				&#8226; Requiring the development of a strategy for maximizing the use of U.S.-made PPE during an emergency, including an assessment of current sourcing challenges and opportunities to increase U.S. manufacturing of PPE.
				&#8226; Utilizing the federal government&rsquo;s buying power to send a consistent demand signal to manufacturers of PPE and other materials that they should invest in domestic production.
				&#8226; Authorizing $100 million per year in grant funding to ensure that new and existing American manufacturers, including those in economically distressed areas, get assistance and support to build or expand PPE manufacturing capability.
				&#8226; Adding a data sharing requirement to existing public health grants to ensure that the federal government can access the data needed to coordinate materials needs during a crisis.
				&#8226; Updating the Stafford Act to include a public health emergency, such as a pandemic, in the definition of a major disaster.
				&#8226; Increasing resiliency by producing information and resources about how to make basic temporary protective equipment at home.

Cartwright introduces legislation to end reliance on China for PPE supply