US hospitals face severe PPE shortage

Health workers across the United States are reporting a critical shortage of protective personal equipment, or PPE, amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The federal government has fallen behind in achieving its goal to secure certain types of PPE, such as nitrile gloves. It set a goal in May to obtain 300 million N95 masks to supply health workers on the front lines fighting COVID-19.

But by the middle of November, the US Strategic National Stockpile and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had only secured 142 million N95 masks.