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Last month, Baker raised this concern directly in a phone call with President Donald Trump during a teleconference with the nation's governors.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker tells Trump he took the president's instructions \"very seriously\" and tried to “go out and buy” supplies to battle COVID-19, instead of relying on the federal stockpile, but “on three big orders we lost to the fed.” https://t.co/PuZJemvdMR pic.twitter.com/JCh4vUZlr1

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 19, 2020

Trump had asked governors to purchase their own supplies to battle the virus instead of relying on the federal stockpile.

Baker told Trump on March 19 that his state \"took very seriously\" the president's instructions to “go out and buy” their own supplies to battle COVID-19, but “on three big orders we lost to the fed.”

The total number of masks transported from China is 1.7 million and the inventory is expected to arrive at Boston Logan Airport on Thursday afternoon. According to the source, the use of the Patriots plane accelerated the process, which could have taken several more weeks.

\"PHOTO:
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, shakes hands with Nick Folk and Lawrence Guy before the AFC Wild Card Playoff game against the Tennessee Titans on Jan. 04, 2020, in Foxborough, Mass.
>

The 300,000 N95 masks for New York are expected to be transferred via truck to the The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City on Friday, which has been converted into a hospital as medical facilities are strained due to the pandemic.

Other leaders in the sports world have also made efforts to address the shortage of protective personal equipment.

Last week, Major League Baseball and Fanatics executive chairman Michael Rubin announced plans to halt the production of MLB uniforms to produce at least 1 million masks and hospital gowns for health care workers and emergency personnel battling COVID-19.

(Thread):

Woke up in the middle of the night last week with idea of converting our @Fanatics factory in PA that makes official @MLB jerseys into a facility that makes much needed masks and gowns and then donating them to help fight this horrendous virus. pic.twitter.com/r6FAxUdlgH

— Michael Rubin (@MichaelGRubin) March 26, 2020

Fanatics, which is based in Easton, Pennsylvania, is the manufacturer of the the official MLB player jerseys.

\"We have already begun production of up to one million masks and gowns from the fabric used to make the official MLB jerseys and then donating to hospitals and emergency management personnel throughout Pennsylvania with the goal of expanding to New York and New Jersey,\" Rubin said in a statement obtained by ABC News last week.

Rubin, who is also a minority owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, is working with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to distribute the gowns and masks to hospitals in New York and New Jersey.

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