City of Memphis signs off on $1.3M contract to buy masks
The city of Memphis has reached a contract with a Nevada-based company to buy $1.3 million worth of protective masks for use by city employees.
That contract, entered into the online city contracts database in recent days, is only a small part of local authorities’ efforts to buy protective gear before coronavirus cases peak in Memphis.
“I can tell you that I am on the phone constantly,” Brenda Jones, director of Shelby County Emergency Management and Homeland Security said Thursday. “I have some of my personnel calling companies.”
Government officials across the United States are urgently seeking protective gear and medical equipment. Shortages of equipment are especially acute in New York City, where some hospitals are overwhelmed and deaths are increasing.
Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Sunday that the city has only one week worth of medical supplies left, with the exception of ventilators — the city will need hundreds more of those breathing machines very quickly, he said.
Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the federal government’s lead coronavirus response coordinator, said Sunday on NBC’S Meet the Press that every metro area should assume they will have an outbreak as severe as New York.
“No state, no metro area will be spared,” she said. She called on officials to prepare now.
Shelby County officials have said in recent days that the Memphis area’s hospitals are not yet flooded with patients. A study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts that coronavirus-related hospital demand across Tennessee will peak April 21 — the study does not break out statistics for Shelby County.
Memphis officials are seeking out protective gear not just for medical workers, but also for other city employees such as police officers and firefighters. Some city sanitation workers wore masks in recent days as they picked up trash.
It’s not clear how many masks the city of Memphis $1.3 million contract with Nevada’s Hawkeye Systems Inc. will buy. The company advertises a “smart mask” product with artificial intelligence that can sense elevated temperature and the presence of airborne pathogens — though it’s not clear that’s what the city is buying.
The city database lists $60,000 in other recent mask purchases with various vendors. One contract, with Houston-based Protec Medical and Dental Supplies, lists a zero dollar contract amount, suggesting the amount isn’t yet final. A second contract with
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a pandemic. Reported illnesses range from very mild to severe, including death. Agencies anticipate widespread transmission will occur in the U.S. in coming months and recommend social distancing among other measures to slow the spread.
Call your doctor and stay home if you are sick.
Get more information at Cdc.gov/ coronavirus or contact the Tennessee Department of Health coronavirus information line at 877-857-2945 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. CT daily.
As of 3 p.m. on Monday, the total number of reported coronavirus cases in the Memphis area are:
Hawkeye also amount.
Two entities are leading Shelby County’s search for gear, said Alisa Haushalter, director of the Shelby County Health Department. The first is the local emergency management agency that Jones leads.
The second is the logistics team that’s part of the COVID-19 task force, a coalition of local governments and agencies.
While the search for ventilators has made headlines, Haushalter said Memphis is looking for simpler protective gear at the moment.
“Right now, there’s actually more of a need for surgical masks,” she said. Those are the loose-fitting, low-tech surgical masks that many health care workers wear, she said, and are less expensive than the more sophisticated N95 masks.
Jones, the leader of the EMA, said she works with the city of Memphis to find personal protective equipment and that the agencies make bulk purchases together.
Jones said local authorities have received some donations for personal protective equipment, but are always looking for more.
How much do they have now? “To be honest with you it would be hard to give you a number,” she said.
Different governments and agencies have different amounts of supplies, she said. “Have we pulled it all together to determine how much is available? No we haven’t.”
Jones is responsible for making requests to the state of Tennessee on behalf of agencies such as the Memphis Police Department, she said. “As a matter of fact, we just received a shipment from (the state) yesterday.”
And she said her talks with equipment suppliers are going well, too. “I’ve talked to a lot of companies today as a matter of fact who have a five to seven day turnaround. That’s encouraging.”
Dr. Scott Strome, executive dean of the college of medicine at University of Tennessee Health Science Center, likewise said donations of personal protective equipment, or PPE, have been helpful to local coronavirus efforts. “But we still need more PPE. Particularly we need the N95 masks,” he said, referring to the more powerful breathing filters. “We need gowns, et cetera. We’re always looking.”
He said Dr. Kennard Brown, UTHSC’S executive vice chancellor and chief operations officer, is exploring the possibility of making the N95 masks through 3D printing.
He said the university would need outside support to increase production. “If that’s going to be a way to go, we’re going to need some help, likely from the state.”
Contributing: Samuel Hardiman lists a zero dollar
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
Tennessee: 1,834 Shelby County: 396 Tipton County: 16 Fayette County: 10 Mississippi: 847
Desoto County: 77 Arkansas: 473
Crittenden County: 17 United States: 140,904 Worldwide: 693,224
Sources: Tennessee Department of Health; Shelby County Health Department, Mississippi State Department of Health; Arkansas Department of Health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; World Health Organization
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