The union found a distributor with the masks, which are cleared for surgical use, after pleas from health care workers as new coronavirus cases surge across the state and the country as a whole. Union officials said they also found a supplier that can produce some 20 million protective masks per week and another that can supply millions of protective face shields.  Or maybe the employers are refusing to buy them and so the nurses and doctors complained to their union rep to go buy some. https://fox6now.com/2020/03/20/nurse-claims-he-was-fired-for-wearing-a-protective-mask/ There are lots of reports of hospital administrators telling nurses and doctors to not wear masks to "avoid panic".