Personal protective equipment (PPE) quickly became a hot-button topic when the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, and the issue remains controversial nearly a year later, as demonstrated by two recent incidents.

In Sarasota, Florida, two healthcare workers recently called out a local nursing home, saying the facility’s management isn’t doing enough to protect patients or staff, according to WFLA. Amy Clements, a certified nursing assistant, recently started a job at Sarasota Health and Rehabilitation Center. Clements says she and another new coworker were sent to work with COVID-19 positive patients without the proper PPE. The two CNAs say they were given no N95 masks, no face shields, and no gowns. The two employees say when they brought their concerns to management, they were let go.

In the second incident, a Mississippi man was charged with allegedly attempting a $1.8 million scheme to hoard PPE and price gouging healthcare providers, including several U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, according to Fierce Healthcare.

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Officials allege that after the first U.S.-confirmed case of COVID-19, Kenneth Bryan Ritche began acquiring and hoarding PPE and other designated materials from all possible sources. The DOJ alleges Ritchey directed sales representatives to solicit healthcare providers to purchase PPE and other designated materials at "excessively inflated prices through high-pressure sales tactics" as well as through misrepresenting sourcing and actual costs.