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Cuomo: Trump Should Force Companies to Make Medical Supplies

‘IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION’

He says states are “savaging” each other in the race to buy overpriced masks, gowns, and ventilators.

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Bennett Raglin/Getty

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that President Donald Trump should invoke the Defense Production Act and start forcing companies to make medical supplies, and the federal government should take charge of doling them out. Cuomo said under the current system, states are “savaging” each other to buy life-saving masks, gowns, and ventilators at jacked-up prices. He said masks that the state was buying for 85 cents each have now gone up to $7 apiece because there is so much demand. “The states simply cannot manage it,” Cuomo said. “This is an impossible situation.” Meanwhile, he said, the state is ready to open hospitals, which could be run by FEMA, at the Javits Center in Manhattan.

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