During a Senate Homeland Security hearing Wednesday, Arizona's senior Senator, Kyrsten Sinema, questioned federal officials on the process for distributing the National Strategic Stockpile and how government can better partner with private industries to support it.
Arizona has struggled to test residents because of shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing materials, Sen. Sinema said in her opening remarks to the panel.
"Arizona lacks sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment, which stunted our testing capacity since the pandemic first started, and significantly contributed to my state’s current dangerous situation,” said U.S. Senator Krysten Sinema (D-AZ).
Sen. Sinema said entities like Arizona State Unversity and Flagstaff manufacturing company W.L. Gore stepped up to produce PPE and other equipment for workers throughout the state. She suggested making that process easier for organizations and businesses to contribute.
Sinema says the distribution model for the Stockpile hurt the state of Arizona early on in the pandemic since the lack of testing and equipment made the state's caseload appear artificially low. Arizona continues to deal with a surge in COVID-19 increasing the demand for testing.
“Arizona is a growing hotspot. The number of confirmed cases, positive test rates, and hospitalizations have increased significantly since the end of the state’s stay-at-home orders in mid-May," said Sen. Sinema.
SInema asked for a review of stockpile distribution practices which are based on population size and confirmed cases.