(TNS) - Desperate for face masks, California paid $800 million to a politically connected firm that failed to deliver most of the state's order.

State officials in Mississippi paid nearly $500,000 to a company whose owner was convicted on federal fraud charges after he resold to grocery stores food that was intended for animals or meant to be destroyed.

The state of Georgia paid a company nearly $7 apiece for masks that normally cost less than half that.

As the novel coronavirus spread across the United States, the Trump administration left states and cities to fend for themselves amid shortages of key medical equipment. States and municipalities competed against each other — and the federal government — driving up prices and creating a chaotic every-man-for-himself environment.

The Times used public records requests to collect spending data from 20 states and large cities. They showed that amid the scramble to buy face masks, winners and losers emerged.

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