Thread by @GovPritzker

In the face of the unprecedented challenges presented by #COVID19, the people of Illinois have stepped up once again: our innovative biotech companies & state-of-the art manufacturers are teaming up with the State of Illinois to ramp up production of PPE. www2.illinois.gov/Pages/news-ite…

.@IMA_Today, a statewide organization representing nearly 4,000 companies+facilities, will be coordinating manufacturers interested in donating or producing essential supplies that are FDA-approved & sterilized: things like N95 masks, gloves, gowns, ventilators, sanitizer & more.

These factories will be adhering to strict social distancing guidelines to ensure the workers behind the PPE are safe and healthy.

.@IllinoisBiotech represents 85,000 life science employees across the state. The organization has launched a COVID-19 response fund to make direct purchases of protective products at a competitive rate.

Going forward, the Essential Equipment Task Force will work with @ReadyIllinois to scale up to mass production of the FDA-approved PPE that Illinois healthcare workers need.

I’m incredibly grateful to and proud of these Illinois organizations for stepping up in this moment.

I can’t overstate how crucial this manufacturing capability will be to our fight against COVID-19.

But we’re not just waiting for in-state production.

My administration continues to work day and night to scour the global supply chain, and today I can announce several new executed PPE contracts:

Since the beginning I’ve promised you transparency and honesty on all aspects of our response.

To that end, I want to take a moment now to run you through our PPE requests with the federal government, and what we’ve received from them.

Thanks to Illinois manufacturers, private & public donations, experienced public servants inside federal agencies & the military, the incredible pursuit of the supply chain by my admin — Illinois is acquiring PPE to compensate for what we haven’t received in our federal requests.

I have medical professionals and first responders begging for the things they need to keep them safe—but so does @NYGovCuomo. So does @GovMikeDeWine. So does @GovInslee.

We are all doing everything we can to do our jobs, which is to protect our residents & health care workers.

We need the federal government to use the Defense Production Act to help the states get what we need.

It’s the federal government’s job to make sure that a nurse being properly equipped in Illinois doesn’t come at the cost of a doctor being ready for work in California.

It’s the federal government’s job to make sure we have a cohesive, prepared, robust national response. It’s their job to make sure that cash strapped states are not paying more than they should have to for supplies – that we are not watching prices go up by the hour.

I’m an Illinoisan, and I’m the Governor of Illinois, and I’m going to do everything I can to protect our residents and get us through this crisis.

I said I’d fight like hell for you — and I’m doing that every minute of every hour of every day.

One way or another, we need these supplies — and I have a whole team of people whose singular focus right now is working the phones across the world to get as much PPE as possible shipped to Illinois.