Somerset County ordered 35,000 medical masks. The federal government seized the whole orderBy ALEX PARKER-MAGYAR Staff Writer Apr 6, 2020
The federal government seized 35,000 face masks that were to be distributed to Somerset County medical workers, and nobody is quite sure where the shipment has gone.
The Somerset County Office of Emergency Management was expecting the order of N95 masks and surgical masks to arrive Friday. Instead, the vendor called the office that afternoon to inform them that the order had been commandeered.
The county was to distribute the protective equipment to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Somerville, as well as to first responders in county municipalities. Additional masks were to be used at a proposed COVID-19 testing site as yet to be launched by Somerset and Hunterdon counties.
Somerset County Freeholder Director Shanel Robinson said in a phone interview Monday night the county has yet to receive any information from the federal government as to why the bulk order was seized or where the materials have gone. Nor was the county made aware of which federal agency was involved in the seizure.
Robinson said she was “disappointed” in the lack of communication.
“While it’s not uncommon in situations such as this that an executive order can be put out to commandeer equipment, I think that since we’re all in this together there should have been a conversation,” she said. “They could have asked us what we need this bulk order for, or could we share proof of a plan of distribution, instead of just commandeering the order – and then nothing.”
She said the county felt it was making a prudent decision in ordering the materials in bulk to distribute to area first responders and medical workers, but also to use at the proposed testing site.
“In bulk orders you get better pricing,” she said. “We thought we were doing the collective thing and the right thing by doing a bulk order.”
She could not immediately say how much the 35,000 masks cost, but said the county had not paid upfront.
The seizure has state officials and regional representatives looking for answers.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-7, said Monday the congressman is looking into the matter.
The seizure isn’t the first case of the federal government confiscating personal protective equipment, or PPE, from state and local governments during the pandemic.
The federal government seized two bulk orders of medical equipment purchased by Massachusetts in March, and has faced criticism for outbidding individual states on several occasions. The seizures led Massachusetts to skirt the eye of the federal government by having more than one million masks flown in from China on a New England Patriots plane.
Nations, U.S. states and individual hospitals are also seeking to edge each other out in the bidding war for limited medical supplies, with some states proposing a nationwide buying consortium for PPE.
The outright and unexplained seizure of goods, however, has drawn condemnation.
Locally, small towns are finding themselves on the short end of the stick.
In Watchung, a town whose rescue squad is currently in “desperate need” of supplies, a four-gallon order of hand sanitizer was recently diverted to the federal government. Watchung’s first responders would have also stood to benefit from the 35,000 masks seized from Somerset County.
Local towns are already facing months-long backlogs on purchase orders.
“Like many municipalities and counties in the Tri-State Area, we’re trying to get our volunteers, professionals and first responders the PPE they need,” said Watchung Borough Councilwoman Daryl Eisenberg Knegten. “Time and again they’re being diverted without explanation by the federal government.
“New York and New Jersey are by far the hardest hit in the entire country right now. We need these supplies, our county and our borough are buying them, and we’re seeing them ripped away from us when we need them most.”
Freeholder Director Robinson reiterated greater communication and information sharing is needed.
“If the catch phrase of the year is ‘we’re in this together,’ then we truly need to be in this together at every level,” she said. “I think there are some things that can be done differently.”
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