US Trashing Troves Pandemic Gear as Huge, Costly Stockpiles Expire

FILE - Health care workers line up for free personal protective equipment in front of murals by artist Romero Britto at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Sept. 22, 2020, in Miami. FILE - A medical worker reacts as police officers and pedestrians cheer medical workers outside NYU Medical Center in New York, April 16, 2020. FILE - Boxes of personal protection equipment maintained by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services are shown stacked in a warehouse in Jefferson City, Mo., on Dec. 1, 2023.

When the coronavirus pandemic took hold in an unprepared U.S., states scrambled for masks and other protective gear.