San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Virus surge renews fears of shortage of protective gear.
Bay Area health officials are on alert as recordshattering coronavirus numbers raise concerns once more about the lack of personal protective equipment available to keep frontline workers safe.
After the initial scramble to find enough equipment in the pandemic’s early days, some hospitals and public health officials across the Bay Area say they now have enough protective gear in place, or plans in place to get it. But replenishing stockpiled supplies could become harder as the outbreak worsens nationally.
“We are experiencing some issues in terms of obtaining (protective equipment), likely due to the increased national demand for (protective equipment) supplies,” Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the San Francisco Public Health Department, said in a news briefing Wednesday.
It doesn’t help that coronavirus hospitalizations in the Bay Area are also surging, with a record high of 665 patients Thursday. While some officials said they feel better about supplies now compared to months ago, management and health care workers often differ on how much equipment is “enough.” Some facilities are reusing N95 masks, following loosened federal guidelines that some workers fear won’t adequately protect them.
Bay Area public health departments track whether medical facilities have stockpiled protective equipment. As of this week, San Mateo County facilities said they had a twoweek supply. Contra Costa and Marin counties had enough for a month. Facilities in Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Francisco counties did not have a 30day supply.
Jim Morrissey, medical health operational area coordinator with Alameda County emergency medical services, said the county has ample supplies to distribute to facilities within a day. The county has stockpiled enough protective equipment to last up to six months, he said. Since March, the county distributed 4.6 million items, ranging from gallons of hand sanitizer to boxes of gloves. Morrissey said supply pipelines are now opening up, so he encourages facilities to go back to their vendors or search on Amazon to find items. “Get what you can, when you can, if you can, and as much as you can,” said Morrissey. “You continue to think ahead to say this is going to get worse.”
Other counties struggle more: A Contra Costa Public Health Department spokesman said “supplying requests from facilities is an ongoing challenge” and the state and federal government are the county’s largest suppliers.