enator Tillis refused to comment on a new investigation from WBTV which revealed that the federal government had been “auctioning off” medical equipment as recently as last week even as states like North Carolina “competed for shipments of personal protective equipment, including face masks and shields, from the strategic national stockpile.”

Senator Tillis did, however, separately confirm that he will not stand up to his own party or the administration’s failure to prepare for or address the coronavirus, saying that he’s not “putting any criticism” on the administration.

The WBTV investigation found that the federal government “sold hundreds of items that could be used as personal protective equipment and thousands of pieces of medical equipment used to help patients breathe in February and March, as the novel coronavirus spread across the country.” The sales continued even after the administration declared a public health emergency and a state of emergency.

When asked about the sales, Senator Tillis “did not get back to [WBTV] with any kind of reaction at all.”

Meanwhile, North Carolina has “only received about one third of what we requested from the stockpile,” Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry confirmed. The shortage of PPE is putting first responders across North Carolina “at risk.”

“The federal government is auctioning off much needed medical equipment while our state begs for supplies, yet Senator Thom Tillis can’t even be bothered to fight for North Carolina because he’s too afraid to cross the administration,” NCDP spokesman Robert Howard said. “Senator Tillis is unwilling to stand up for our state because he’s terrified of President Trump, leaving front-line medical workers who need ventilators, masks, and other PPE to fend for themselves. It’s shameful but expected from a politician as weak as Thom Tillis.”

WBTV: US Military sold ‘surplus’ ventilators, face masks as coronavirus spread across the country
By Nick Ochsner
April 14, 2020

Key Points:

• The US Department of Defense sold hundreds of items that could be used as personal protective equipment and thousands of pieces of medical equipment used to help patients breath in February and March, as the novel coronavirus spread across the country.

• A WBTV viewer called the station in late March after noticing hundreds of items of PPE listed for sale on the website.

• After the call, WBTV was able to find dozens of listings for personal protective equipment including respirator masks, face shields and surgical gloves and medical equipment including laryngoscopes and ventilators; all of which were sold between February 1 and April 7.

• A review of the listings found that sales of the equipment continued after US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar declared a public health emergency due to the outbreak of the coronavirus on January 31 and even after President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency for the virus on March 13.

• In total, WBTV found 35 ventilators that had been sold on GovPlanet.com in February and March, including four that were auctioned off on March 17, four days after Trump declared a state of emergency.

• In a different listing, a lot of more than 1,000 laryngoscopes—which are used to intubate patients to connect them to ventilators—was sold on April 7.

• A lot of 180 face shields were also sold on April 7, the website’s records show. In total, WBTV found nearly 500 plastic face shields with rubber band straps and a separate lot that contained boxes of medical face shields had been told between February 1 and April 7.

• The sales came as states competed for shipments of personal protective equipment, including face masks and shields, from the strategic national stockpile.

• In North Carolina, Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry announced the state had received its third and final shipment of supplies from the stockpile on April 3.

• “In total, we’ve only received about one third of what we requested from the stockpile,” Sprayberry said at the time.