Healthcare workers across the country are facing shortages of protective personal equipment or PPE, often forced to reuse N95 respirators and hospital gowns.

There’s been an alarming rise in virus cases as states roll back lockdowns and experts say that the shortage of PPE will affect all hospitals, but especially those serving communities of color and those on Medicaid — the most vulnerable  sectors of society.

While major hospitals were able to replenish their supplies of PPE after an initial shortage at the beginning of the pandemic, the smaller, “safety net” facilities without financial resources to pay for pricey equipment, are still in dire straits.

Compounding the situation is the fact that these are the very treatment centers serving the most vulnerable communities, according to NBC News. A recent report from the CDC indicated that 30 percent of hospitalized patients in March were African American.

“They are populations that are on Medicaid or have poor access to health care and face greater barriers,” said Dr. Garth Walker, an emergency room physician from Chicago. “The common theme is that safety net hospitals get less money.”

Dr. Megan Ranney, an ER physician at Brown Emergency Medicine in Rhode Island, and the co-founder of #GetUsPPE, told NBC News:

“Whether it’s the elderly, minority populations, populations affected by structural racism and historical injustice, those are the very groups that have the most difficult time getting adequate PPE for the workers.” She said that the “supply chain is still really broken” and her organization has close to 12,000 requests for PPE from around the nation.

Ranney said that part of the problem is capitalism. N95 respirators used to cost 50 to70 cents each, but now suppliers are charging between $3 to $5 apiece, according to NBC News,

“Few health care facilities have those kinds of financial resources,” she said. “We’re in a scarcity situation. When there is something that’s in high demand, they’re supposed to charge more for it. That’s the whole idea of capitalism, but it doesn’t work for something like this.”

Experts said that the solution would be to have the federal government institute a systemic change on how PPE is distributed, and to step up production and accountability, according to NBC News.

“The unfortunate part of this epidemic is that it is showing the really ugly side of the American health care system,” said Deborah Burger, co-president of the National Nurses United and president of the California Nurses Association. “We have markets and it is based on what we can afford to buy.”