ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Intense global demand to get protective equipment for doctors and nurses on the front lines of the coronavirus battle is prompting states and hospitals to compete against themselves in a shady marketplace where prices are soaring.

State governors across the U.S. have been pressing unsuccessfully for the federal government to centralize the process and stop the competition between states, their own hospital systems, other countries and the federal government itself.

States say they have no choice but to pay inflated prices, calling it a matter of life and death.