Coronavirus: San Francisco mayor says emergency supplies ordered from China have been diverted to other cities

‘We’ve had situations where those items have been taken and put out on the market for the highest bidder’

San Francisco mayor London Breed has said that orders of personal protection equipment (PPE) have been diverted to other locations in the US and abroad.

Speaking at her daily coronavirus press conference on Friday, Ms Breed said that some protective items have been diverted before they have reached the US.

“We’ve had issues of our orders being relocated by our suppliers in China,” she said. “For example, we had isolation gowns on their way to San Francisco and they were diverted to France.”

Ms Breed added that in some cases, protective equipment was taken away from the city after it went through US customs.

“We’ve had situations when things we’ve ordered that have gone through Customs were confiscated by FEMA to be diverted to other locations,” she said.

The mayor revealed in her briefing that the orders of PPE have been auctioned off to the highest bidder, and added that it “blows my mind” that US cities are having to compete with each other to get the equipment they need.

“We know everyone is dealing with a serious challenge,” she said. “Through Customs, we’ve had situations where those items have been taken and put out on the market for the highest bidder, putting cities against cities and states against states.”

Ms Breed warned that the loss of purchased PPE has left the city without the necessary equipment for healthcare workers to safely tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Hill, San Francisco has ordered 15 million pieces of PPE, and Ms Breed revealed that she wanted the public to know that city officials are doing what they can to get protective equipment for those who need it.

“We wanted to make sure as you hear about some of these challenges, you’re aware of why they are challenges,” she said.

“I know it seems as though it should be a lot simpler: We have the money to purchase the PPE, why can’t we purchase the PPE?”

The San Francisco Bay Area was the first part of the state to issue a stay-at-home order for all its residents, but California as a whole is still struggling to contain the spread of the outbreak.

During his briefing on Thursday, California governor Gavin Newsom said that “yesterday was the deadliest day for this virus in this state.

“115 human beings lost their lives, families torn apart,” he said. “It’s also a reminder we’re not out of the woods yet.”

Google’s dedicated coronavirus page shows that California has upwards of 41,317 confirmed cases and at least 1651​ deaths.

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, nationally there are upwards of 968,203 people who have tested positive for coronavirus. The death toll has reached at least 54,948.