The billions of tax dollars headed for hospitals and states as part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus response bill won’t solve the critical shortage of protective gowns, gloves and masks

Melissa Gong was completing her final semester of the nursing program at Cabrillo Community College when COVID-19 brought her studies to a halt. The facility where she was doing clinical training closed its doors to protect patients from potential exposure.

With capacity stretched thin, U.S. hospitals are rushing to find beds for a coming flood of patients, opening older closed hospitals, turning single rooms into doubles and re-purposing other medical buildings. At the same time, medical professionals in New York City are warning of the risks they are facing on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic in the United...

The need for basic supplies, masks, gloves and gowns is reaching a desperate level for some doctors, nurses and technicians fighting the COVID-19 outbreak. “The allotment of personal protection equipment for one of our hospitals…is barely enough to cover one shift at that hospital, not even a full day’s worth,” says Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.