The Federal Emergency Management Agency got a lot of hits on its call for companies to provide supplies for the novel COVID-19 coronavirus response, but very few have resulted in any success, The Wall Street Journal reports.
A person familiar with the situation told the Journal that more than 1,000 companies originally responded to the request, but as of early Monday, only three unknown companies actually had supplies FEMA could buy. A lot of the offers — for things like protective medical gear, body bags, and tests — fell short because the vendors wanted FEMA to provide payment upfront, which the agency can't do. Others reportedly simply oversold their stock. The source said many phone calls with potential suppliers transitioned from something along the lines of "I've got" to "I can find" in a matter of days.
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