Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) says the White House sent the wrong kind of medical masks in its latest PPE shipment after personally telling him President Donald Trump’s administration would send 300,000 masks to his state.
“While we do not have a final count on this yet, I can say with certainty that what they sent were not the N95 masks that were promised, but instead were surgical masks, which is not what we asked for,” Pritzker said.
“I can’t emphasize enough how much we need the federal government to step up and amplify the size of their PPE (personal protective equipment) deliveries to Illinois,” he added.
Coronavirus cases in Illinois have surged in recent days: There are almost 5,000 active cases in the state per current statistics. 73 people have lost their lives.
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On Sunday, Pritzker announced Illinois would take charge of coronavirus testing after the Trump administration failed to roll out enough tests.
“The White House has promised millions of tests for weeks now, and they’re just not here,†Pritzker said at the time. “I’m not going to wait on promises from the federal government that may never be fulfilled. We need this testing capacity now. So, we’re building it ourselves in Illinois.â€
The governor said the “loss of essentially the entire month of February†without major testing contributed to an “exponential†rise of cases in his state, adding that the “profound failing of the federal government†to deliver tests had exacerbated the problem.
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
