On Wednesday, rheumatologist Dr. Karen Law posted a photo to her Instagram thanking the “entire team” from the Fox medical television drama “The Resident” for donating medical supplies to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
To the entire team @theresidentonfox, thank you for this incredibly generous donation of #PPE from your set, including gowns, masks, gloves, and all the things our healthcare workers need to provide safe care for our community during #COVID19.
Yesterday, I had a serious discussion with the residents about how, though supplies are low, a magical shipment of masks is unlikely to arrive. And yet, a magical shipment of masks DID arrive, in the form of this very generous gesture.
This kind of community support means so much to our #frontlineproviders who are making many sacrifices to staff our hospitals and care for our community.
Law thanked the “Resident” team and Fox, adding, “We needed this kind of good news today.”
“The Resident” isn’t the only medical/first responder television show to get in on the donations game. According to CNN, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “New Amsterdam” have donated supplies, and “Station 19” provided as many as 300 N95 masks to fire stations.
Krista Vernoff, and executive producer for both “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Station 19,” offered the following statement about the donations:
At “Station 19,” we were lucky enough to have about 300 of the coveted N95 masks which we donated to our local fire station. They were tremendously grateful. At “Grey’s Anatomy,” we have a back-stock of gowns and gloves which we are donating as well.
“We are all overwhelmed with gratitude for our healthcare workers during this incredibly difficult time, and in addition to these donations, we are doing our part to help them by staying home,” Vernoff concluded.
An NBC spokesperson offered a similar statement pertaining to “New Amsterdam.”
We at @NbcNewAmsterdam have donated all of our protective gear (masks, glove etc.) to hospitals & healthcare workers. Thank you to all who helped to make this happen, and thank you to the healthcare workers around the world for being #superheroes during this crisis. #newamsterdam
— Jocko Sims (@jockosims) March 20, 2020
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) has increased dramatically, stretching thin the supplies currently available.
On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order authorizing the Defense Production Act of 1950, which, among other things, gives the president the authority to “require companies to prioritize government contracts and orders seen as necessary for the national defense, with the goal of ensuring that the private sector is producing enough goods needed to meet a war effort or other national emergency,” according to The Associated Press.
The text of the act reads in part:
The President is authorized (1) to require that performance under contracts or orders (other than contracts of employment) which he deems necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense shall take priority over performance under any other contract or order, and, for the purpose of assuring such priority, to require acceptance and performance of such contracts or orders in preference to other contracts or orders by any person he finds to be capable of their performance, and (2) to allocate materials, services, and facilities in such manner, upon such conditions, and to such extent as he shall deem necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense.
The president tweeted on Wednesday:
I only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future. Hopefully there will be no need, but we are all in this TOGETHER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020
During a press briefing on Friday, however, the president stated that he has indeed invoked the Defense Production Act. “We have a lot of people working very hard to do ventilators and various other things,” he stated.
When asked by a reporter if the Defense Production Act was being used to order businesses to “make ventilators, masks, respirators,” President Trump replied in the affirmative. “The Act is very good for things like this. We have millions of masks that we’ve ordered. They will be here soon. We’re having them shipped directly to states,” Trump said.