On March 23, 2020 President Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Secretary of HHS, under the authority of the Defense Production Act, to “prevent hoarding of health and medical resources necessary to respond to the spread of COVID-19 within the United States.” It also delegates to the Secretary of HHS the:
[A]uthority to prescribe conditions with respect to the accumulate of such resources, and to designate any material as a scarce material, or as a material the supply of which would be threatened by persons accumulating the material either in excess of reasonable demands of business, personal, or home consumption, or for the purpose of resale at prices in excess of prevailing market prices.
Attorney General William Barr reassured Americans that “”If you have a big supply of toilet paper in your house, this is not something you have to worry about.”
The Health Law Pulse will continue to provide updates as more is known about this public health crisis.
