“In the setting of a national emergency, states should not have to struggle with equipping front-line providers with PPE given the supplies on hand at the SNS. At present, the demand from providers and first responders in our state will soon outstrip our available supply, even with the initial distribution,” Governor Mills wrote. “The sooner that SNS can distribute additional PPE, the sooner that the State of Maine can work with the health care system in Maine to distribute those supplies and ensure our readiness before our health care system experiences a surge in cases.”

The Governor also noted that, although the Maine CDC has testing materials now, the availability of testing kits and testing reagents is a challenge. She emphasized the importance of “a steady and reliable supply moving forward as the outbreak intensifies” and asked to know “how the limited supplies of PPE and testing materials will be allocated to states and how extensive those supplies are.” She specifically wanted to know whether and to what degree the Federal government will consider the age of a state’s population as a factor in their decision, given that Maine has the oldest median age of any state in the nation.

Read Governor Mills’ complete letter (PDF).