Texas provides 'vast amounts' of PPE to school districts as reopening approaches

As schools prepare for reopening, the state of Texas continues to provide school districts with "vast amounts” of personal protective equipment at no charge, Gov. Greg Abbott said.

“Health and safety remain our top priority as we approach the upcoming school year,” Abbott said in a press release from the Texas government. “To meet that priority, the State of Texas is purchasing and distributing vast amounts of PPE to Texas school districts. As local school boards make determinations on how and when they choose to open schools, the state is working to help ensure that there will be a strong supply of PPE waiting for them to keep students, teachers, and staff safe."

Texas is leaving many of the decisions on “how and when to open for in-person instruction” up to school boards, according to the press release. 

They can offer online for up to eight weeks for COVID-19 issues but periods longer than two months will require approval from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). TEA will review the requests and make decisions on a "case-by-case basis," according to the press release. 

So far, the state has distributed 59.4 million masks to school, 567,948 gallons of hand sanitizer, 24,017 thermometers and 511,294 face shields.

Abbott recently toured the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) warehouse in San Antonio.

TDEM has distributed 794,370 coveralls, more than four million face shields, 32.9 million gloves, 7.4 million gowns and 132.8 million masks to communities in the state since the beginning of the pandemic.

In March, as the pandemic worsened, Abbott established a Supply Chain Task Force. It is directed by Keith Miears, senior vice president of worldwide procurement at Dell Technologies.

The assignment of the task force is to guide the "collaboration between public and private sectors" to make sure there are adequate supplies to respond to outbreaks of the coronavirus, according to the press release.