Coronavirus Hoarding: Feds Seize 192,000 N95 Respirator Masks, Other Equipment

The departments of Justice and Health and Human Services announced Thursday 192,000 N95 respirator masks have been confiscated in New York and New Jersey, and now are being distributed to hospital workers and others on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The enforcement action was the first announced by Justice’s COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force. HHS used its authority under the Defense Production Act to commandeer the supplies and said the owners would be compensated at pre-COVID-19 prices.

In addition to the N95 masks, investigators found 598,000 medical grade gloves and 130,000 surgical masks, procedure masks, N100 masks, surgical gowns, disinfectant towels, particulate filters, bottles of hand sanitizer and bottles of spray disinfectant. The raid was conducted Monday.

"If you are amassing critical medical equipment for the purpose of selling it at exorbitant prices, you can expect a knock at your door," Attorney General William P. Barr said in a press release. "The Department of Justice's COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force is working tirelessly around the clock with all our law enforcement partners to ensure that bad actors cannot illicitly profit from the COVID-19 pandemic facing our nation."

HHS Secretary Alex Azar noted healthcare workers are in desperate need of personal protective equipment as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases swell and the death toll climbs. There have been reports of nurses donning garbage bags in lieu of gowns amid PPE shortages.

White House DPA coordinator Peter Navarro said Thursday’s announcement represents only the first of such enforcement actions.

"Our FBI agents and other law enforcement agencies are tracking down every tip and lead they get, and are devoting massive federal resources to this effort,” he said. “All individuals and companies hoarding any of these critical supplies, or selling them at well above market prices, are hereby warned they should turn them over to local authorities or the federal government now or risk prompt seizure by the federal government."

Governors across the country have been pleading for more medical equipment. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, head of the National Governors Association, said states are flying blind. Governors said they are being pitted against each other on eBay and other marketplaces as they attempt to secure supplies.

The action came as the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. rose above 217,000 at noon EDT with 5,151 deaths, 1,374 in New York City.