WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate passed legislation similar to Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s bipartisan Health Care Workforce Protection Act—legislation addressing coronavirus and ensuring critical respirators used to keep patients and health workers safe have liability coverage and are available for use by Arizona communities in the coronavirus response. Sinema introduced her legislation with Republican Senator Deb Fischer (NE).
“Equipping Arizona communities with respirators, which are critical to keeping patients with coronavirus and health care workers safe, will help keep all Arizonans healthy. I urge the House to quickly pass our bill so we can better ensure Arizonans’ safety,” said Sinema.
Currently, only FDA-approved surgical respirators have liability protections. Respirators used outside of surgery, including the N95 respirator, are not eligible for liability protections, putting manufacturers of respirators and health facilities that distribute these respirators at risk. Ensuring non-surgical respirators that are critical to protecting against the coronavirus have liability coverage will increase access to respirators, keep health workers safe, and help safeguard the health of all Arizonans.
Last week, Sinema wrote Vice President Pence about the need for the federal government to implement a single online webform to collect information directly from travelers for more complete, accurate, and timely data.
Sinema has also added a resources page to her website, www.sinema.senate.gov, for Arizonans looking for the latest information on coronavirus.
