NJ COVID report: Could we get caught short on PPE again? State isn't managing supply

TRENTON - Hit with the most dangerous pandemic in a century, New Jersey was left to fight with a supply of personal protective equipment that was "grossly insufficient," an independent investigator said in a report released Monday.

Four years later, the state has a three-month supply of PPE, but it risks watching the supplies expire before they can be used, setting the stage for another potential shortfall, the report said.

New Jersey is "responsible for maintaining a PPE supply on behalf of the health care system, adding significant warehousing costs and with the likely outcome being that the PPE will expire before it is used," the report said.

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The critique of the state's PPE supply was part of a 910-page report and released Monday by the law firm Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, led by former federal and state prosecutor Paul Zoubek, with assistance from the Boston Consulting Group.

Sixteen months ago, Gov. Phil Murphy requested the report looking into the state's readiness and response to COVID-19, a pandemic that hit New Jersey four years ago this month. The disease killed some 36,015 residents statewide and continues to linger; about 450 people were hospitalized with COVID on Sunday, the state said.

The lack of facemasks, gowns and gloves prevented health care providers from containing the spread of the disease. And it was impediment in the state's ability to reopen from its lockdown, the report said.

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"The state had an alarmingly small stockpile of PPE before the pandemic and lacked the necessary in-place emergency contracts to serve as a stopgap," the report said. "This put New Jersey at risk in terms of its ability to secure enough PPE for those who needed it."

Nurses wearing garbage bags

The report described a state — and nation — that was ill-prepared for a pandemic, beginning with a failure to have enough protective equipment needed to keep health workers and residents safe.

During the pandemic's initial wave, the report said, New Jersey had to lean on a small stockpile of old, expired masks from a previous health crisis. Health providers needed to re-use masks, running the risk of carrying the virus into a new environment, or go without. Nurses, who ran out of sterile gowns, briefly used garbage bags instead.

The federal stockpile of equipment didn't provide much relief. Ventilators that could have assisted COVID patients with breathing were hard to find, and some were delivered broken or inoperable. And the federal government didn’t centralize PPE procurement for the country, leaving New Jersey to compete with other states for the equipment on the open market.

With investigators needing time to understand that the virus could be transmitted through the air, New Jersey health providers needed to make decisions for their staff and patients somewhat blindly in real time. The state had a plan written in 2015 for an event like the pandemic, but senior state leaders weren't aware of it, the report said.

Faced with a shortage of PPE, the state's bid to stock up ran into a roadblock: The global supply chain, which supplied 70% of the nation's PPE, collapsed due to the pandemic, the report said.

The Murphy administration in March 2020 began to solicit PPE donations through an online portal, eventually collecting 10 million pieces, including surgical masks and N95 masks that the report said helped meet New Jersey's demand in the early days.

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'Lives were lost to the misinformation'

But the overall lack of masks in particular limited the state's ability to end lockdowns and closures in a way that didn't threaten to spread the virus. For example, New Jersey could have reopened many indoor locations sooner with universal masking. And it could have allowed the public to use outdoor recreation sooner.

The supply chain for PPE stabilized in July 2020, the report said, and supplies became more plentiful. But their effectiveness was hampered by another obstacle: basic health information became politicized, the report said.

"Lives were lost to the misinformation — both deliberate and unintentional — which surrounded the pandemic," the report said.

The report raised questions about how well New Jersey is positioned for a repeat. The Murphy administration in August 2020 required the state to maintain a three-month supply of PPE and hospitals to maintain a three-month supply, creating a backlog that could last six months.

But New Jersey's supply, kept in a warehouse, isn't being actively managed, the authors said, recommending that the state partner with a warehouse and logistics vendor to monitor and replenish supplies and pay hospitals to keep extra supplies on site.

Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ COVID: PPE supply still isn't being managed four years later