Counties face turbulent PPE marketplace; federal relief uncertain

The marketplace for personal protective equipment is harried by states — and even separate departments in the same county — all competing for the same supply, which is becoming increasingly expensive.

Mahoning County officials told Mahoning Matters this week it seems as if those willing to pay the most for shipments of essential masks, gloves and cleaning supplies are the first to receive them.

Though Mahoning has committed to buying thousands of masks at a time — and earmarked up to $200,000 for PPE thus far — county officials said they've seen quicker fulfillments for more able spenders, while their own "7- to 10-day" shipments get delayed for up to six weeks.

Commissioner David Ditzler said he suspects those are in fact the same shipments, ultimately rerouted to make a bigger sale.

The nationwide PPE shortage has even pitted Mahoning's commissioners' office against its sheriff's office on the virtual sales floor, he said.

"You're literally bidding against yourselves, your neighboring communities, for these products," Ditzler said, while calling for more state or federal controls on prices and supply.

"It's been criminal on what they've charged and how the delays have snowballed."

Six weeks ago, Mahoning officials bid on a shipment of 10,000 masks, priced at $4 each, Ditzler said. Vendors selling in New York have been charging nearly twice that, Bloomberg reported earlier this year.

Though many distributors — whom Ditzler said are mostly moving supply from China — now want cash upfront, preferably by credit card, Mahoning County only pays with governmental purchase orders, which are paid on delivery, making it harder to find willing sellers, Ditzler said.

"A week later they would sell the same 10,000 masks for $5 a piece. … They would come back to us and say, 'There was a delay in the shipment'," Ditzler said.

Though Mahoning County this week received two shipments of PPE from the state, they were light on masks and gloves and didn't contain any gowns, which officials here and elsewhere in the state are desperately hunting, Ditzler said.

Mahoning County is also low on disinfectant products like Clorox wipes, he added.

"[The state shipments are] not making us whole, but it is providing us with needed materials," said Dennis O'Hara, director of the county Emergency Management Agency, which is charged with distributing state disbursements to area hospitals and nursing homes.

"We continue to fill requests as they come in," he said.

Some of the masks Mahoning County ordered weeks ago have started arriving, and more are confirmed to be en route, Ditzler said.

Though local manufacturers are trying to plug whatever holes remain — Dinesol Plastics along North Meridian Road recently donated 35,000 face shields made from supplies on-hand; Candela Micro Distillery of Boardman is now bottling hand sanitizer — Mahoning County still has to source much of its own supply. And they're doing it without any guarantee of federal reimbursement, Ditzler said.

Only U.S. counties, townships, villages or other municipalities that have more than 500,000 population are eligible to apply to the U.S. Treasury for federal coronavirus relief funding or reimbursement, under the federal CARES Act's definition of a "unit of local government."

The only Ohio counties that meet that population mark are Franklin, Cuyahoga, Hamilton, Summit and Montgomery; the only city is Columbus.

Ditzler said that's "crazy," considering Mahoning County on Saturday had the third-highest numbers of COVID-19-related deaths among Ohio's 88 counties — just behind Cuyahoga County, which has about five times the population.

Other Ohio counties and localities that don't qualify, however, may still receive pass-through relief from the state, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH. In a letter last month to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Brown called the CARES Act's $150 billion allocation "an important first step" to help cities and counties recover financially, but said the local level needs a larger share of the pot.

"This funding, however, will not fully address the most urgent and pressing need for local governments: revenue replacement," he wrote. "Already, our cities and counties are slashing critical services and furloughing employees. The combination of surging costs and plummeting revenues leave our local governments with few choices aside from these last-resort measures."

The City of Youngstown furloughed 67 full-time and 22 part-time workers, The Vindicator reported last week. Mahoning County officials said last week, however, they don't foresee any imminent cuts to services or manpower.

Dan Polivka, Trumbull County commissioner, said Friday he wasn't aware of any population restrictions in the CARES Act and he's expecting reimbursement for what Trumbull County is spending to outfit those on the frontlines. He said Trumbull hasn't been struggling in the PPE marketplace, as has Mahoning County.

"We've been keeping up with having enough for hotspots and things of that nature. … I haven't heard of any real backlog," he said.

Like Mahoning, Trumbull County is seeing private contributions from local manufacturers like FattyCakes Soap Company of Warren, and KraftMaid of Ashtabula County, both of which have pivoted to making hand sanitizer, said Kayla Grizer, Trumbull County's deputy EMA director.

County residents are also donating cash sums as well, she said.

"We haven't had too many issues with finding large shipments of anything. The biggest issue is trying to find gowns," Grizer said. "We've had a few issues of orders falling through but not many. They just don't have the supply to meet the demand."

Though medical facilities, including dentists' and veterinarians' offices, are allowed to resume previously postponed procedures under state re-opening guidelines that took effect May 1, Grizer said the state hasn't offered much direction on how to equip them, and that meeting their needs is "difficult at this time."

"Let people know to be patient with us," she said.

To donate PPE to Trumbull County EMA, call the main line at 330-675-2666 to schedule a dropoff.

To donate PPE to Mahoning County EMA, email DonatePPE@mahoningcountyoh.gov or call the agency offices at 330-740-2200 to schedule a dropoff.

This story was originally published May 9, 2020 at 5:19 PM with the headline "Counties face turbulent PPE marketplace; federal relief uncertain."