The U.S. likely is producing enough masks, gowns, and other personal protective equipment. The supplies just aren’t getting to all the health-care workers who need them.
Federal funding and real-time data sharing have helped manufacturers boost domestic production of gear seen as critical for essential workers during the pandemic. But without a national, centralized database to track supply and demand—particularly who needs what and where—many of those workers will continue to go without, lawmakers and policy consultants say.
“We never actually identified how much we need as a country and how much we have as a country,” Rep. Andy Kim ...