Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Tuesday (Today), said the increases in positive cases of COVID-19 over the last several weeks has resulted in an increased use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), but “thanks to months of procurement and ongoing monitoring and management, Iowa’s PPE stockpile is strong. Jacob Nicholson, a Response Division administrator for the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division (HSEMD), said Iowa analyzed trends in the statewide usage rates and monitored shortages in the supply chain, and the State is well positioned to meet the needs for PPE in the months to come.

(He said gloves and disposable gowns have been in demand, but there is still a 16 months supply of gloves and 18 months supply of gowns in the stockpile, ready to be dispersed.)

In addition, the State has executed contracts with suppliers for those high demand items, with resupply shipments scheduled to be delivered to the HSEMD warehouse every month for the next seven months.

(He said as of this week, the State has completed 2,557 deliveries of PPE and other necessary supplies, totaling 15.7-million individual items.)

Most recently, he said, they’ve worked in partnership with County Emergency Management Coordinators in Pottawattamie, Union and five other Counties, to established seven PPE hubs, or nodes, across the State.

Nicholson says their PPE distribution model will enable requests for supplies to be filled more rapidly than ever before.