$7 million of pandemic supplies damaged after being left outside

A Bay Area county is investigating how personal protective equipment was soaked during 2021 storms.

Officials in San Mateo County are investigating how a supply of personal protective equipment worth millions of dollars was left outside, apparently forgotten, for months before being damaged by storms late last year.

According to a statement Friday by Mike Callagy, the county manager, officials purchased the supplies in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, “when no one knew how long global supply shortages would last and jurisdictions nationwide were competing to purchase safety equipment … to protect first responders and communities.”

As supply-chain issues subsided and hospitalgrade equipment became easier to find, demand for the county’s equipment fell, Callagy said.

County officials worked for months with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to offer the PPE and other materials to healthcare providers, schools, agencies and other states free of charge, he said.

“But few accepted the offer, because sizes, quantities, other considerations made them less appropriate,” Callagy said.

Surplus PPE and cleaning supplies were moved in mid-September to an area outside of the San Mateo County Event Center to make room for an event, he said. Storms damaged the supplies, Callagy said, adding that they should have been moved inside once the event was over.

“The county is solely responsible for our materials at the event center,” he said. “We deeply regret that this occurred and are hiring an external investigator to identify all facts related to the damage and make recommendations to avoid future incidents.”

The items included nonmedical-grade isolation gowns, face shields, goggles, sterile gowns and miscellaneous cleaning supplies such as bleach, mop buckets and handles, Callagy said. Their estimated value is $7 million.

“While the storms damaged some outside packaging, most of the supplies are individually wrapped,” he said. “The county is actively inspecting and cleaning the materials, with plans to donate undamaged goods to a nonprofit.”

High-grade PPE such as gloves and masks — including N95 and KN95 respirators — were stored indoors at county warehouses and were not damaged, Callagy said.

“We want to assure our community that this incident did not impact the county’s ability to provide safety equipment to first responders and others responding to COVID-19,” he said.

The story was first reported by KGO-TV Channel 7 after a reporter got a tip about the equipment left outside in the rain. Upon visiting the event center, the reporter found that thousands of boxes of equipment had been soaked, and some had broken open and spilled their contents, according to the station.

Callagy, who spoke with the station, said he didn’t know about the situation until he was contacted by the reporter.