The Trump administration has failed to meet its own goal for stockpiling respirator masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers struggling with the current nationwide surge of Covid-19 cases, reports the Wall Street Journal.

In May, the government said that within 90 days it would increase it supply of top-rated N95 masks to 300 million. But it never came close to that target.

By mid-November, the Journal says in its exclusive report, “the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile and the Federal Emergency Management Agency held 142 million N95 masks, which filter out at least 95% of small particles and fit snugly to the face.” FEMA says that number has since increased to 164 million.

“Some public health leaders and legislators said the stockpile didn’t meet its target numbers partly because the White House didn’t take full advantage of the Defense Production Act to sufficiently increase domestic supply,” the Journal says.

The federal government procured less than half of its goal of an emergency stockpile of respirator masks and other PPE for health workers. Utter incompetence! 42 days. https://t.co/DUDsgAw2k1

— Amy Siskind ?️‍? (@Amy_Siskind) December 9, 2020

“The disconnect between what’s purported to be in the stockpile and the needs on the front-line is astounding,” said Dr. Ali Raja, an emergency-room physician who co-founded Get Us PPE, a group that finds and delivers medical supplies to workers.

Many nurses and doctors are just having to make do.

“We don’t have the proper PPE,” Shantonia Jackson, a certified nursing assistant at SEIU Healthcare in Chicago. “We just have the regular masks you can buy at Walmart.”