On April 16, one of those shipments arrived at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on a FEMA-chartered flight, which average between $750,000 to $800,000 a flight. Medline provided CNN access to one of its third-party warehouses where cargo flown in on an Airbridge flight is broken down before being sent to a company distribution center. While the supplies are flown in by FEMA, the allocation of supplies is split between the administration’s designated hotspots and the distributors’ customers, some of whom might also be in those critical areas. Nearly 6 million face masks from China arrived at Medline's Chicago distribution center earlier this month. So far, millions of supplies, including gloves, surgical masks, surgical gowns, and face masks have arrived in the US on more than 70 flights – earning praise from President Donald Trump, who’s called it “an amazing success,” and at times, criticism from governors who say the supplies should go directly to the states. The Federal Emergency Management Agency launched the endeavor, dubbed “Project Airbridge,” in late March with six US distributors, including the company Medline. The arrival of the items is part of the Trump administration’s effort to expedite the shipment of supplies overseas, as the nation wrestles with a dire shortage of equipment in the face of a growing number of coronavirus cases and deaths. When nearly 6 million face masks arrived at Medline’s Chicago distribution center earlier this month, they had already traveled more than 7,000 miles to supply around 20 coronavirus hotspots around the country, including areas in Illinois, New York, Michigan, Louisiana and Washington.
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