American Medical Association begs Trump for Personal Protective Equipment

America's largest association of physicians issued an urgent appeal on Friday for President Donald Trump to use his power under the Defense Production Act to manufacture critical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

"Shortages of this critical PPE are posing a significant risk for our ability to treat COVID-19 patients and contain the spread of this pandemic. Shortages continue to pose serious risks to the health and safety of our healthcare workforce, as well as the patients they treat," the American Medical Association said in a statement.

“For days, physicians and frontline healthcare workers have been sounding the alarm that there is nowhere near enough PPE in the fight against COVID-19–a shortage that endangers patients and jeopardizes the entire response to this virus,” said AMA President Patrice A. Harris, M.D., M.A.

“Physicians don’t have enough masks; they are wearing a single mask all day, cleaning them at home, and sewing their own protective gear. Confronting COVID-19 requires an all-hands-on-deck approach from federal, state, and local governments, and we urge our leaders to pull every lever at their disposal to ramp up test kit availability and to equip physicians and the healthcare workforce to fight the virus," she explained.

"Anything less is unacceptable at this critical juncture," Harris added.