Colorado Gov. Jared Polis announced in a press briefing on Wednesday that the state has been talking to Chinese factory owners, and others, to purchase medical equipment.
"We know that not having gotten nearly enough from the federal government, we have really taken it upon ourselves as a state to engage in the purchasing of medical equipment," Polis said.
According to the governor, Colorado has a "monumental task" at hand to build medical capacity at this critical time. And the state is not just facing a healthcare crisis; it is also facing a supply chain crisis, Polis added.
"We simply do not have the medical capacity, the beds, hospital beds, ICU units, ventilators, personal protection equipment to treat everybody who might get sick and have the potential to get better," the governor said. "We placed a number of purchase orders, and we have a number of supplies that are in transit or in the supply chain, all subject to verification. We want to verify that the masks work and that they are not counterfeit."
By the numbers: Colorado has ordered 2.5 million N95 Masks, 750 ventilators, 1.5 million gloves, one million surgical masks, 25,000 face shields and 250,000 gowns, according to the governor.
Colorado has a total of 3,338 coronavirus cases with 77 deaths, according to CNN's tally.