In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city’s hospitals are dramatically undersupplied for the coming wave of COVID-19 patients, with a peak expected in six weeks’ time. At a news conference Thursday, the mayor called on President Trump to mobilize massive industrial production of medical equipment, including 3 million air-filtering masks, 50 million surgical masks, 15,000 ventilators, and tens of millions of surgical gowns, coveralls, gloves and face masks.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: “If we expect those goods that are produced that we need for our hospitals to get there in time, there’s only one organization that can guarantee that, and that is the United States military. When will President Trump give the order? That is my question. When will he give the order? Why is he hesitating? People are suffering now, and they will be suffering so much more in the month of April. And the president gives himself an A grade, and he congratulates himself, and yet he will not act in the way we need it most. This is patently unacceptable.”

Around the country, healthcare workers are being told to reuse N95 air-filtering respirator masks amid a critical shortage. President Trump says the federal government has ordered 500 million of the masks, but Bloomberg News reports they could take up to 18 months to deliver.