PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Maine received less than a third fewer protective respirator masks per resident from the national stockpile than Vermont or Rhode Island, but more than three times that of Texas, a newspaper reported.
The Portland Press Herald analysis shows that the N95 masks, which filter out 95% of all airborne particles, including ones too tiny to be blocked by regular masks, weren’t allocated based on population, as the Trump administration had indicated.
As of April 6, Maine had received 86,008 N95s from the stockpile, or one for every 15.6 state inhabitants. Vermont received one for every 4.7 of its citizens, while Rhode Island got one for every five. Hard-hit Massachusetts got fewer — one for every 28 people, and Texas received one for every 48.
“Whatever methodology this administration is using, there’s no transparency or accountability to it,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat.
Partisan politics didn’t appear to have played a factor in which states got larger shipments, the newspaper reported.
