About $4 million worth of personal protective gear are headed toward Houston Police and Fire.
The purchase, authorized by Houston City Council on April 22, will help protect Houston’s first responders, many of whom have been required to quarantine themselvesdue to exposure to the coronavirus.
With such gear in short supply across the country, the city of Houston and other municipalities now seek them from private producers in addition to those provided through the state and federal government, Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters at a March press conference. At that point, the city had just lost out on a bid for N95 face masks, priced at $4 each when prior to the coronavirus pandemic, they cost less than $1 each, he said.
“It becomes a bidding war on the private marketplace,” he told reporters March 26.
