April 1, 2020/Press
What is Thom Tillis Doing to Secure the PPE North Carolina Needs?
The Trump administration, "plagued by shortages and confusion," has provided North Carolina with "just over 17% of what it has requested" – and rather than stand up to the administration for North Carolina hospital workers and those on the front lines, Senator Thom Tillis is downplaying the issue.
According to several new reports, North Carolina and other states are facing shortages of PPE and medical equipment and unfulfilled requests from the federal government's emergency stockpile. North Carolina has "requested 500,000 medical coveralls and received 306, state records show."
Meanwhile, other states have received more supplies than they've asked for – Oklahoma received 120,000 face shields despite only requesting 16,000 – leaving some officials questioning "whether politics is playing a role in the response."
Yet rather than stand up to the administration, Senator Tillis is downplaying the issue. In a tele-town hall, Tillis said the federal government is "concerned if we send resources and bypass all other agencies, we may miss some areas that are in greatest need and oversupply areas that are not as at risk right now."
Meanwhile, North Carolina medical workers are "all nervous" and reporting that shortages of PPE means "there are none to be had" on the ground right now. One Charlotte emergency room doctor has resorted to asking his neighbors for PPE, saying, "it would be better than nothing."
"Senator Tillis has spent a year sucking up to the president and touting his relationship with this administration, yet when our frontline workers need him to deliver for us, he's failed us again," NCDP spokesman Robert Howard said. "North Carolina emergency workers have resorted to asking their neighbors for PPE because our Senators and this administration have failed to deliver. We know our other Senator is too busy engulfed in a scandal to advocate for us – what about Senator Tillis?"
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