AP: Tight supplies for virus gear cost US states billions

Ray Bellia had a good business before the coronavirus pandemic. He topped $4 million in annual sales from his New Hampshire store that specialized in protective gear for police.

Then he got a call from a buyer with the state of Massachusetts asking if he had anything that could protect people from COVID-19. As it happened, he did. He went on to sell the state 300,000 disposable masks for 97 cents each.

“From that point on, it’s been just insanity,” Bellia said.

Masks. Gowns. Gloves. Goggles. Sanitizer. Coveralls. Thermometers. Bellia has sold it all, and not just to Massachusetts. From Maine to Hawaii, numerous other states, counties, cities, colleges and schools have lined up to buy from him.

While countless other businesses tanked amid coronavirus shutdowns, Bellia's store — Body Armor Outlet — rapidly evolved into one of the nation's 20 largest suppliers of personal protective equipment to states this past spring, according to a nationwide analysis of state purchasing data by The Associated Press.

The AP tallied more than $7 billion in purchases by states this spring for personal protective equipment, or PPE, and high-demand medical devices such as ventilators and infrared thermometers.

The data, obtained through open-records requests, is the most comprehensive accounting to date of how much states were buying, what they were spending and whom they were paying during a chaotic spring when inadequate national stockpiles left state governments scrambling for hard-to-get supplies. Much of the buying happened outside normal competitive bidding procedures, and in many states a lack of transparency from governors' administrations made it difficult for the public — and even lawmakers — to see how taxpayer money was being spent.

The spending data covers the...