Unions demand US government take charge over 'inexcusable' PPE shortage
A large coalition of labor unions and climate action groups have petitioned the US health and homeland security departments to take over the manufacture and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The unions, including the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of Teachers and the Amalgamated Transit Union, represent more than 15 million workers, from nurses to flight attendants to nannies. The administration is required to respond within 15 days.
Related: America's PPE shortage could last years without strategic plan, experts warn
The groups could sue if they do not receive a response.
Healthcare and other frontline workers have experienced rolling shortages of gowns, gloves and critical N95 face masks since March, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke the global supply chain for such products. Healthcare workers could make up between 10 and 20% of total Covid-19 infections, the petition said, citing previous health authority estimates.
“It’s terrifying to risk your life every day just by going to work. It brings a lot of things into perspective,” said Rick Lucas, the president of the Ohio State University Nurses Organization and a nurse Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
“I’m not going to give up on protecting my patients, even though it’s clear the federal government has basically given up on protecting us,” he said. “More than 100 of my coworkers have tested positive for the coronavirus, and many of those positive tests were due to occupational exposure because of lack of PPE. This is inexcusable.”
Although PPE supplies have rebounded for large hospitals and long-term care homes, supply chains remain fragile, with periodic shortages accompanying surges of Covid-19 cases in the US. At the same time, independent doctor’s offices have struggled to obtain these supplies at all, as distributors allocate limited supplies to the most critical facilities.
Health experts and industry leaders have predicted PPE shortages could persist for years without government intervention. They also said there is no end in sight for emergency conservation measures, which have pushed nurses to use the same N95 masks for a week at a time.
The petition, drafted by environmental lawyers and signed by unions, calls on the administration to deploy the full powers of the Defense Production Act (DPA) using an emergency rule-making process. The wartime law allows the US to mandate manufacturers fulfill government contracts first, to make masks, gloves, gowns and other equipment to protect workers from Covid-19.
Donald Trump delegated DPA powers to health secretary Alex Azar and acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf in March. The groups claim neither has used the act sufficiently to remedy the gear shortages.
The Trump administration abdicated responsibility for the manufacture and distribution or PPE to states, which has exacerbated shortages as states and institutions compete amongst one another.
Demand for PPE is expected to grow again in the coming months, with the potential for Covid-19 to surge during winter months, and as some states with active infections try to push schools to return to in-person instruction.
