Medical Supply Chains

Relief package billions can’t buy hospitals out of shortages

The billions of tax dollars headed for hospitals and states as part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus response bill won’t fix the problem facing doctors and nurses: a critical shortage of protective gowns, gloves and masks.

Published March 29, 2020

In this March 12, 2020, file photo, health care personnel test a person in the passenger seat of a car for coronavirus at a Kaiser Permanente medical center parking lot in San Francisco. The Associated Press has found that the critical shortage of testing swabs, protective masks, surgical gowns and hand sanitizer can be tied to a sudden drop in imports of medical supplies. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

More Medical Supply Chains Stories

The latest in our investigation into medical supply chains traces counterfeit masks from China to hospitals and frontline workers across the U.S.

U.S. charities that traditionally operate in countries stricken by war and natural disaster are now sending humanitarian aid to some of the wealthiest communities in America.