'I’ve never experienced anything like this'

The New England Journal of Medicine, trucks to trick the FBI, and calling your congressman. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

We've been hearing stories for a couple of months now about hospitals and health care workers running short of basic medial protective equipment: gloves, gowns, N95 masks, and the like.

There have even been stories of the government interfering after they manage to acquire equipment—somehow interrupting the deals and taking the supplies.

Now there’s an account that stands out, because it comes not from a news site, or some guy's post on Twitter, but instead from the New England Journal of Medicine.

In a little over 600 words, Dr. Andrew W. Artenstein went on the record and explained what his hospital had to go through to get a single shipment of N95 masks.

The whole thing reads like a cross between the counterterrorism tactics diplomats are taught to use on their daily routines, and a grown-up version of how my college friends and I used to smuggle beer into our dorm for parties.

In other words, it’s no way to supply a hospital during a pandemic—a play in nine acts, so to speak, accordi…