MADISON -- Democratic Wisconsin Representatives Mark Pocan (WI-02), Gwen Moore (WI-04) and Ron Kind (WI-03) sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) questioning why Wisconsin has received none of the testing materials requested on March 28 and 29 -- specifically testing kits, test collection swabs and reagents.
A news release Thursday, April 16 from Rep. Pocan's office said the state has additionally received an inadequate amount of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) -- including 50% fewer N95 respirators than expected.
The release went on to say, "FEMA’s failure to provide Wisconsin with adequate testing materials comes at the same time that President Donald Trump has said expanding testing capacity is up to state governors. Wisconsin has gone through the proper supply chains and that is still not enough to meet the state’s testing needs. Our state’s labs are expanding capacity, but cannot implement the amount of testing we need to safely re-open the state without the necessary supplies FEMA is withholding."
"The Trump administration is turning its back on Wisconsinites while the president blames state governors for his failures—rather than getting us the supplies we need,” said Rep. Mark Pocan in the release. “The federal response has been woefully inadequate to the needs of our state. We need FEMA to step up. Nationwide, we are failing to test people for this deadly virus quick enough. Wisconsin labs are attempting to ramp up capacity and serve the people of our state, but cannot do so without the testing supplies the federal government to provide. States like Wisconsin are doing everything in their power to fight this pandemic, but the federal government’s failures are threatening us all.”
“The lack of crucial supplies needed to fight COVID-19 is straining hospitals and putting Wisconsinites and health care workers at risk,” said Rep. Gwen Moore in the release. “Wisconsin needs more federal support during this pandemic, which is why I’m joining my colleagues in this effort to secure more testing supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers.”
“Health care organizations across Wisconsin are doing everything they can to acquire the personal protective equipment and testing supplies needed to treat patients and prepare for additional cases of COVID-19, but we need the federal government to step up and do its part,” said Rep. Ron Kind in the release. “It is unacceptable that three weeks after Governor Evers submitted a request to FEMA for supplies, our state has only received a small portion of needed supplies and hasn’t been informed of when the additional supplies can be expected to arrive.”
The letter to FEMA is as follows:
The Honorable Peter T. Gaynor
Administrator
Federal Emergency Management Agency
500 C Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024-2523
Dear Administrator Gaynor:
We write to follow up on the Wisconsin congressional delegation’s March 30th letter asking for expedited consideration of the State of Wisconsin’s request to FEMA for critical supplies including testing kits, test collection swabs, reagent, and personal protective equipment (PPE).
The three shipments from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) received to date by Wisconsin have been critical to responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. Yet, these shipments have not included the testing materials requested by the state. Wisconsin has worked around the clock to expand testing capacity through public-private partnerships. However, this still falls short of the state’s testing needs. There are labs in the state, like the UW-Madison Hospital lab, that are capable of running up to 2,000 tests per day but cannot due to the shortage of reagent in the normal supply chain.
As you know, the President said this week that expanding testing capacity is up to the Governors. Following FEMA’s direction, the States are going through the normal federal supply chain and still falling short. The State of Wisconsin needs FEMA’s support in providing testing supplies to be able to test at our full lab capacity to effectively respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. Therefore, we respectfully request you expedite the supplies included in the State’s March 28th and 29th request to FEMA, attached to this letter.
The people of Wisconsin are relying on FEMA to efficiently provide these supplies. Finally, as we mentioned earlier the state received its third shipment from the SNS, however the N95 respirators received were 50% less than expected. This is unacceptable, our heroic first responders and health care workers must have the appropriate PPE so they are not exposed to the coronavirus as they are treating and evaluating patients. We request a response no later than Friday April 17, 2020 on the reason for the shortage of N95 masks in the third shipment and a specific timeline for testing supplies to be shipped to Wisconsin.
Requests from Governor Evers’ March 26th Letter:
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