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Maricopa County Warns Of PPE Shortage

Maricopa County has doled out more than half a million select pieces of personal protective equipment to ward off the coronavirus. But health officials warned Thursday that the supply has not been able to keep up with the demand. 

Maricopa County’s cache of face shields, masks and gloves comes from the national stockpile, county purchases, the state and private donations.

Robert Rowley, director of the county’s emergency management, warned more is needed.

"The most critical one at the moment are surgical gowns. We are down to just a few days supply on that," Rowley said.

Rowley said cities have been helping the county with the stock.

"The next is a tie between N95 masks and face shields, which we’re down to just two to three weeks on each of those," he said.

The county is only taking PPE requests from facilities with positive COVID-19 cases.

→  Read The Latest News On The Coronavirus Disease 

Fronteras Desk senior editor Michel Marizco is an award-winning investigative reporter based in Flagstaff.