
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told reporters that the state is running dangerously low on personal protective equipment, also called PPE.
“We are running dangerously low on PPE,” Gov. Whitmer said at a press conference Monday morning. “At Beaumont Hospital we have less than 3 days until N95 masks run out. At Henry Ford Health System we have less than 4 days. And at the Detroit Medical Center, less than 10 days,” she said.
Gov. Whitmer said that there are less than three days left until face shields run out and less than 6 days until surgical gowns run out at all three of those health systems. She added that these data points do not include private donations that are going straight to hospitals.
“We are doing everything that we can at the state level to secure more personal protection equipment. Today we will begin distributing 1.2 million surgical masks that the state has procured on the open market,” Whitmer said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent 400 ventilators, 1.1 million surgical masks, 232,000 face shields and 2 million gloves. “FEMA will be shipping 1 million more N95 masks to Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties this week,” the governor said.
The state is working with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan National Guard to get the TCF Convention Center in Detroit up and running to see patients by Friday.
The governor added that Ford and the United Autoworkers have donated thousands of face shields to Michigan hospitals and the state issued the purchase of 1 million face shields from Ford to be delivered over the next 3 weeks.
“We’re making some progress, and that is a good thing, but we need more PPE to continue fighting this virus,” Whitmer said.