HARTFORD — In the spring when the coronavirus first hit, state officials searched far and wide for personal protective equipment, relying on everything from Chinese bankers to a Cromwell lumberman to procure hard-to-find masks and gowns.

This time, as the second wave of the virus hits the state, purchase orders show they are using a far more familiar tool to most American shoppers: Amazon.

On one day in early November, the state spent about $134,000 ordering three-quarters of a million exam gloves from Amazon, according to purchase orders.

State Chief Operating Officer Josh Geballe, who oversaw the hunt for PPE in the spring, said the Amazon purchases were for a specific glove size.

"We are actually well above all of our targets in terms of PPE, but for some reason we couldn't find extra-large gloves so we turned to Amazon," Geballe said.

In the spring, when states and the federal government were fighting over every N95 mask and every box of surgical gowns, turning to the online retail giant would have been unthinkable, since price gouging was rampant for anything that wasn't out of stock.

"Supply chains have generally stabilized in terms of prices, and we aren't scouring the globe anymore but relying more on contractors that we have established relationships with," Geballe said.

Purchase orders from October and November show that the state is stocking up on gloves, with seven different purchases.

But the largest purchase was for $1.86 million worth of masks from one of the contractors that was used in the spring: The Rossi Group LLC.

The Rossi Group is a century-old Cromwell-based company that acquires hardwoods in the U.S. and around the world and exports to more than 40 countries. It also operates sawmills in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and buys masks from a Chinese supplier for its employees.

CEO Ted Rossi, whom political candidates have turned to in the past for fundraisers, called Gov. Ned Lamont's office in mid-March with an offer to obtain masks for the state from his Chinese supplier. The Chinese KN95 masks are almost identical to the N95 masks approved for use in the U.S.

Connecticut was initially hesitant to make an upfront payment to China, but decided to take the offer when it became clear how difficult it was to get materials from other suppliers.

The Rossi deal paled in comparison to the more than $15 million worth PPE shipped directly from China and brokered by Raymond Dalio, a longtime friend of Lamont's and the CEO of Westport-based Bridgewater Associates.

Dalio and a couple of Stamford businessmen helped broker the deal, then handled the logistics of getting the PPE back here. The shipment brought 1 million N95 masks, 6 million surgical gowns and 100,000 infrared thermometers to Connecticut.

Some of it was donated, including more than $2 million in masks by the China Construction Bank, which has a relationship with Dalio. Banks are not normally considered a business to turn to when looking for N95 masks and thermometers, but in the wild world of procurement during a pandemic, the connection played a critical role.

"It really took awhile, and all the different relationships that are necessary there — the Chinese Construction Bank — they made a significant donation of $2 million plus," Lamont said at the time.

"For us to get to the front of the line with everybody trying to source PPE coming out of China, where most of the PPE comes from, took a variety of relationships," Lamont said. The consulate general, ambassador and others "were very helpful as we tried to navigate through this."

The haul left the state in a fairly good position with PPE, a situation that has extended through the summer when the virus waned and now into the fall when it has surged back.

Geballe said the state isn't giving out as much PPE as it did in the spring. Hospitals have obtained their own stockpiles, and state officials have ordered nursing homes to have a set supply of PPE on hand.

In the spring, PPE shortages were most severe in the long-term care facilities, where the majority of COVID-19 cases and deaths occurred. The state gave nursing home providers millions of pieces of PPE to help get them through that crisis.

The state is still using significant amounts of PPE to protect prison guards, staff at state mental health facilities, state Department of Children and Families personnel and state police.

"We obviously continue to use a lot of PPE at state agencies, and we know you can go through a lot of PPE very quickly, but we are much better prepared now to handle that," Geballe said.