New York CIty Council Member Ben Kallos

Gotham Gazette City Says Medical Supply Stockpile Nearly Complete; Healthcare Workers Wonder If It'll Be Enough by Ethan Geringer-Sameth

City Says Medical Supply Stockpile Nearly Complete; Healthcare Workers Wonder If It'll Be Enough

City Council Member Ben Kallos, a Manhattan Democrat who chairs the Council’s contracts committee, said he has been seeking information on the peak PPE burn rate and the formula behind the city's stockpile figures without success, most recently at an oversight hearing in October. The mayor's office did not respond to a separate Gotham Gazette inquiry for the same information.

"The administration still hasn't shared how they came to this number and whether or not these numbers are accurate," Kallos said in a phone interview.

"We do know from common sense, common knowledge, anecdotes, and testimony at the hearing, that the numbers of PPE that we need are deflated because of people being instructed or choosing to recycle PPE that they shouldn't," he said, adding, "I am incredibly fearful that this 90-day stockpile is not the right number."

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