Colorado has ordered auto body shops and other businesses to send details on their personal protective equipment supplies by the end of Friday, and a similar Minnesota command might apply to some repairers as well.
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on March 19 ordered the inventories be submitted by Friday.
“I request that any Colorado business or non-hospital health care facility, whether veterinary, dental, construction, research, institution of higher learning, or other, in possession of PPE, ventilators, respirators and anesthesia machines that are not required for the provision of critical health care services undertake an inventory of such supplies by no later than March 26th, 2020 and prepare to send it to the State of Colorado,” Polis wrote. “I direct the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to allocate any supplies received pursuant to this order to support activities related to the COVID-19 response.”
Shops should send a list of equipment to the state using this Google Document. The state is not ordering you to ship the actual supplies, Emergency Operations Center public information officer Micki Trost confirmed Friday.
“They’re just sending an inventory,” she said.
Minnesota’s inventory order is narrower.
“Any Minnesota business, nonprofit, or non-hospital health care facility, whether veterinary, dental, construction, research, institution of higher learning, or other, in possession of PPE, ventilators, respirators, or anesthesia machines (including any consumable accessories to these devices) that are not required for the provision of critical health care services or essential services and were not produced by the organization for the purpose of sale, must undertake an inventory of such supplies no later than March 25, 2020,” Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wrote on Monday.
Walz directed businesses to submit that information at https://mn.gov/ppe. The site instructs visitors to inventory supplies using this form.
A FAQ from the state said the order to inventory PPE didn’t apply if all of the supplies were for “essential services.” But if the PPE was used for a mix of essential and nonessential services, an inventory was necessary.
“Yes, you need to complete the inventory unless all the PPE in your possession is required for essential services or critical health care services,” Minnesota wrote in a FAQ. “If you have more PPE than you anticipate needing in the near future, please complete the inventory and consider donating it for use in the delivery of critical health care services.”
This content was originally published here.