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A mad scramble for masks, gowns and ventilators is pitting states against each other and driving up prices. Some hard-hit parts of the country are receiving fresh supplies of N95 masks, but others are still out of stock. Hospitals are requesting donations of masks and gloves from construction companies, nail salons and tattoo parlors, and considering using ventilators designed for large animals because they cannot find the kind made for people. The market for medical supplies has descended into chaos, according to state officials and health-care leaders. They are begging the federal government to use a wartime law to bring order and ensure the United States has the gear it needs to battle the coronavirus. So far, the Trump administration has declined. (Whalen, Romm, Gregg and Hamburger, 3/24)

The Trump administration sowed confusion on Tuesday over use of a 1950s-era emergency act to procure coronavirus test kits amid severe shortages of tests, masks, ventilators and other equipment for medical workers fighting the highly contagious disease. Peter Gaynor, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told CNN the administration had decided to use the Defense Production Act to procure 60,000 coronavirus test kits, in what would mark the first use of the act to confront the coronavirus crisis. (Chiacu, 3/24)

For much of the day, the administration sent conflicting signals on whether it was using the Defense Production Act. On CNN Tuesday morning, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Peter Gaynor said the law would be used for the production of certain test kits. Mr. Gaynor said the federal government was also inserting “DPA language” into its mass contract for 500 million masks. But Mr. Trump, speaking Tuesday evening at a White House news conference, said the Defense Production Act hadn’t been used, saying the government hadn’t “found it to be the case” that the law was needed. Mr. Gaynor’s comments surprised some in the White House, according to an administration official. (Ballhaus and Restuccia, 3/24)

Late Tuesday night, FEMA press secretary Lizzie Litzow changed coursed, writing: “At the last minute we were able to procure the test kits from the private market without evoking the DPA. ”Federal delays in rolling out widespread testing have sparked criticism from state officials, who have said they are woefully underprepared to handle the unfurling outbreak. One testing kit serves roughly 300 to 400 patients. President Donald Trump last week invoked the DPA as the administration broadened its response to the public health crisis, but he has resisted actually activating the statute — insisting that governors bear more responsibility for obtaining potentially life-saving supplies and arguing that the private sector would pitch in to supply needed equipment voluntarily. (Forgey, Owermohle and Cassella, 3/24)

“The president said it's a war ... then act like it,” Cuomo said, raising his voice during a morning news conference at the Javits Center in Manhattan. “They’re doing the supplies? Here’s my question: Where are they?” If more ventilators aren’t sent within weeks, Cuomo told the feds, “You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die.” New York has procured just 7,000 of the 30,000 ventilators required to treat the expected surge in hospitalized Covid-19 patients. (Young and French, 3/24)

When Ford’s chief executive, Jim Hackett, announced on Tuesday that the carmaker would team up with General Electric to build ventilators, he tempered the good news with a note of caution: “We’re talking about early June.” That was just one of several examples that underscored the price of the Trump administration’s slow response to evidence as early as January that the coronavirus was headed to the United States. (Sanger, Kanno-Youngs and Swanson, 3/24)

Ford has teamed up with 3M and GE Healthcare to speed up the production of personal protective gear for health care workers and of ventilators for people in acute respiratory distress amid the coronavirus epidemic. (Aubrey, 3/24)

Ford Motor Co. announced Tuesday that it will join the effort to "speed production" of respirators in an effort to assist with the effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic.The Dearborn-based automaker said in a news release that the company is collaborating with 3M to manufacture "Powered Air-Purifying Respirators." The two are working on a "new design leveraging parts from both companies," the release said. (Wall Howard, 3/24)

While federal officials have touted the promise of tapping the national stockpile for providing desperately needed medical equipment, some states say the items they've received have surpassed their expiration dates. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has started shipping much-needed respirators from the federal government’s emergency supply. New York City, for example, had requested 2.2 million of the specialized masks, known as N-95 respirators, from national stockpiles but has so far received 78,000. And many of the supplies have also expired, a New York City Health Department spokesperson said. (Rubin, 3/24)

South Korea said it will send medical equipment to the United States to fight the coronavirus if it has any spare after an urgent request from U.S. President Donald Trump in which he promised to help Korean firms gain U.S. government approval. The news, which sent shares in South Korean manufacturers of test kits for the virus rocketing higher, highlights the diverging paths the two countries have taken since both discovered their first coronavirus cases on the same day. (Roh, 3/24)