Confirmed COVID-19 cases are still surging across the U.S.; hospitals, care homes, and private medical centers are dealing with a problem many had hoped would be settled. We are talking about a dire shortage of face masks, isolation gowns, and disposable gloves that protect front-line medical workers from contamination.
Contrasting from the crisis that caught a handful of big-city hospitals off guard in March, the rising demand for PPE is now affecting a broad range of medical facilities throughout the country. It is a problem that health experts could have been avoided if the government had embraced a more aggressive approach toward procuring and distributing critical supplies in the pandemic’s early days.
Doctors at Memorial City Medical Center in Houston who treat COVID-19 patients have been told to recycle single-use N95 masks for up to 15 days before tossing them out. The country’s most prominent organization of registered nurses found in a survey of its members that 85% had been forced to recycle N95 masks while treating coronavirus patients. Some hospitals are giving out only loose-fitting masks to workers treating newly admitted patients who may be asymptomatic carriers in Florida.
All across the country, medical staff members are worried because surgical masks offer little to no protection when directly treating the virus’s asymptomatic carriers. The worry increases when hospitals fill with coronavirus patients. Many of them are sent from local nursing homes because staff members lacked even essential protective gear and could not care for them.
The inability to find personal protective equipment is also starting to obstruct other critical areas of medicine too. According to the American Medical Association and other doctor groups, neurologists, cardiologists, and cancer specialists around the country have been unable to reopen their offices in recent weeks, leaving many patients without care.
We are Working Hard to Create a Safe Environment for Everyone
As PPE shortage flares again, We Shield works hard to create a safe and clean environment for front line workers and individuals at most risk of contracting COVID-19. We source and distribute top-quality personal protective equipment and safety supplies at the best pricing on the market.