In response to the continued rapid spread of, and increasing death toll from, COVID-19 in the United States, the drumbeat in the United States for more medical tests, supplies and equipment—in particular personal protection equipment (PPE)—has grown louder and more urgent since President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on March 13. Trump subsequently invoked the U.S. Defense Production Act (DPA) and then directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services on March 27 to require one of the United States’ major automobile manufacturers to accept, perform and prioritize federal contracts for the ventilators the U.S. government now believes are required to care for critical coronavirus patients who would not otherwise survive without such equipment.

On April 2, Trump again invoked the DPA to clear up supply chain issues encountered in the manufacturing of ventilators and to ensure the production of additional N95 face masks. Trump then invoked the DPA yet again, on April 3, to compel a U.S. manufacturer of the N95 face mask, to send the masks it manufactures in factories overseas to the United States and to cease the exportation of face masks currently manufactured in the United States. Given the status of the pandemic and the urgent requirement for PPE, it is only a matter of time until the federal government finally accedes to the public’s demand and begins to issue DPA-rated orders to other companies that currently manufacture, and have the capability to manufacture, PPE to permit the federal government to acquire PPE on an expedited and urgent basis.

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