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Encouraging the City of Philadelphia to support local business and shorten the supply chain by locally sourcing COVID-19 related equipment, supplies, and services from local businesses and suppliers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
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WHEREAS, Like much of the world and the United States, the City of Philadelphia is currently responding to an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus named "SARS-CoV-2" and the disease it causes named "coronavirus disease 2019" (abbreviated "COVID-19"); and
WHEREAS,Many communities in the US and globally are rapidly entering crisis mode in the need for medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) and other related COVID-19 supplies; and
WHEREAS, On April 3, 2020 the CDC updated its recommendations to include a recommendation that persons should wear cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain such as at grocery stores and pharmacies, and especially in areas of significant community-based transmission; and
WHEREAS, Some heavily impacted areas such as New York State and Atlanta, Georgia have called on local businesses to produce needed supplies related to COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia-based businesses may be able to immediately sell or produce cloth face coverings and other approved COVID-19 related test kits, medical equipment and supplies (i.e. ventilators, N95 masks, surgical masks, etc.); and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia-based businesses may be able to repurpose or scale-up production to produce cloth face coverings and approved COVID-19 related test kits, medical equipment and supplies (i.e. ventilators, N95 masks, surgical masks, etc.) for Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia-based businesses may like to offer donated goods, services, or space for use in Atlanta's response to the COVID-19 public health emergency; and
WHEREAS, The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Philadelphia is still rising and the need for PPE for health care workers and cloth face coverings for the general public will continue indefinitely; and
WHEREAS, Shorter supply chains offer more flexibility, greater control, and reduced supply chain costs compared to sourcing COVID-19 related supplies internationally or elsewhere; and
WHEREAS, Sourcing Philadelphia’s needed COVID-19 related supplies and services locally, to the extent possible, will provide much needed support to local businesses who may have been negatively impacted by business environment created by COVID-19, and will thereby support local workers and the City’s economy and thereby its citizens as a whole; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THE CITY COUNCIL OF PHILADELPHIA, Encourages the City of Philadelphia to support local business and shorten the supply chain by locally sourcing COVID-19 related equipment, supplies, and services from local businesses and suppliers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
FURTHER RESOLVED, Local companies that are ready to supply, scale-up production, and/or repurpose their facilities to manufacture the following COVID-19 related supplies should be given preferential consideration as much as is practicable: ventilators, COVID-19 test kits, personal protective equipment (N95 respirators, medical/surgical masks, exam gloves, medical/surgical gowns, eye shields, face shields, googles), cloth face coverings, biohazard bags, and hand sanitizer.
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