Newsom: California has contract for 200M masks per month

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Tuesday said that he is confident his state will be able to receive more than 200 million masks on a monthly basis in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic after inking a number of contracts in the past few days.

During an appearance on MSNBC on Tuesday night, the California governor said that in the last 48 hours, the state has “secured, through a consortia of nonprofits and a manufacturer here in the state of California, upwards of 200 million masks on a monthly basis.”

NEWS: Gov. Gavin Newsom: California has inked deal for 200 million masks (150 million N95, 50 million surgical) per month, enough to meet state’s needs and potentially export to other states pic.twitter.com/mmMRZYOrLq

— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) April 7, 2020

When asked for a breakdown of the amount the masks the state is set to receive, Newsom said he and other officials are confident that more than 150 million N95 masks and “50 plus million masks” will be coming into the state on a monthly basis starting in the next few weeks.

Newsom and state officials are confident that the number of masks will be enough to meet the needs of the state of California and potentially the needs of other states. 

He said the masks were manufactured overseas, adding that the state was able to source them through a manufacturer and nonprofits.

The California Democrat also said the state will be buying the masks at a price where it’s not competing against other states.

“We’re not looking at gouging, the fraud and the abuse in this space, competing in this state. We decided enough’s enough,” he added.

His comments follow previous complaints made by governors across the country in recent weeks who have said their states have had to compete against others, even the federal government in some cases, for medical supplies amid the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Newsom added that, in the next few weeks, the state may be able to see the “opportunity to export some of those supplies to states in need.”

The comments by Newsom come after the governor already earlier this week said it will be contributing 500 ventilators to the Strategic National Stockpile inventory to help other states facing equipment shortages during the pandemic.