U.S. Senator Charles Schumer today sent a new letter to President Trump this afternoon (April 2) calling on the administration to immediately appoint a senior military officer as "Czar" to complete and rapidly implement a government-wide plan for the increased production, procurement and distribution of critically needed medical devices and equipment, with full and complete authority under the Defense Production Act (DPA) he originally pushed to invoke.

Schumer says that with more than 85,000 cases of COVID-19 spreading across all 62 counties in New York, that the present personnel are "not up for the job." There's a continued shortage of masks, gowns and other personal propection equipment, and ventilators.

"No one is really in charge of getting these critical items to where they are needed," Schumer said.

He emphasized that as the coronavirus spreads rapidly and its toll grows more severe, a state of affairs further compounded by the administration’s tardy response to the crisis, the immediate appointment of a senior military officer to help remedy the country’s well-documented shortage of protective equipment, tests, and medical supplies is paramount.

Read Schumer’s letter to President Trump here.