While there is a strategic national stockpile of masks, gloves and other equipment that the U.S. government controls — but no one actually knows, beyond that stockpile, what's already out there in the private sector, according to an article on the NPR website.
Some hospitals don’t have enough, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working on a system that would track the inventory across the U.S.
The issue is getting hospitals comfortable sharing information about their preparedness — information that, until now, they have considered confidential.
At this point, the CDC says there's no mandate for hospitals to participate.
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