Inside STAT: Coronavirus outbreak tests nation's emergency medical stockpile

N-95 FACE MASKS (EVA HAMBACH/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

After the 9/11 terror attacks, when anthrax was a threat later in 2001, and when homes needed insecticide to guard against possible Zika infections, a secretive $7 billion stash of emergency medical equipment was what the U.S. government relied on to respond to each of those emergencies. The stash, known as the Strategic National Stockpile, is now facing one of the biggest challenges yet in its 21-year history as the U.S. faces a possible pandemic as a result of Covid-19. The stockpile has already been called on to help repatriate and quarantine Americans who were in China and Japan when they were infected, but things are already shaky. The entity has come under fire for a perceived shortage of respiratory masks, especially since as many as 5 million of the 13 million masks in its stores may be past their expiration date. STAT's Lev Facher has more here.