Gov. Andrew Cuomo appeared exasperated on Friday during a press conference because there continues to be shortages of personal protection equipment for medical staff.
“It is unbelievable to me that in New York State, in the United States of America, we cannot make these materials, and that we are all shopping China to try get these materials, and we are competing against each other,” Cuomo said at his daily coronavirus press conference.
He stated that N95 masks used to be as cheap as 70 cents but were now selling as high as $7.
“It can’t be that we can’t make these,” Cuomo said, pointing to the general masks, medical gowns, and plastic shields used to protect medical staff from the virus.
Breitbart News has chronicled a list of several American companies that have shifted their productions to produce masks to help protect medical workers.
Cuomo said he would work with American and New York companies to help transition their companies to produce medical protection equipment.
“It cannot be that companies in this country and in this state cannot transition to make those supplies quickly,” he said.
He urged all manufacturing companies to contact the state for help.
On Thursday, Cuomo expressed his frustration with the United States supply line’s reliance on China.
“It is the cruelest irony that this nation is now dependent on China for production of many of these products,” he said during a press conference.