Increasingly desperate pleas from health care workers and public authorities for donations of face masks and other protective gear are an unsettling sign of just how unprepared American hospitals are for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Alison Cooke, assistant chief of hospital medicine for Kaiser Permanente-San Francisco, warned recently that her institution had less than a week鈥檚 supply of medical masks for doctors and nurses. 鈥淚f you have any masks or safety goggles at home, please consider giving them to your nurse and doctor neighbors,鈥 she wrote on the neighborhood social networking site Nextdoor.
On Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged nonessential medical offices and other businesses to donate their protective gear to hospitals. And former federal health official Andy Slavitt tweeted a to dentists, painters, contractors and plastic surgeons, to give 鈥渁ll you have鈥 in the way of masks, gloves or thermometers to local hospitals.
DENTISTS/PAINTERS/CONTRACTORS/PLASTIC SURGEONS: Please鈥 if you have any protective gear, N-95 masks or other, gloves, thermometers sitting around, bring them to your local hospitals. In any number. All you have.
Let us know what you鈥檝e done! Please consider circulating this.
— Andy Slavitt 馃嚠馃嚤 馃嚭馃嚘 (@ASlavitt)
As supplies of critical protective gear dwindle, nurses and doctors are wiping down and they鈥檇 normally toss after one use. On social media, health workers beg for supplies under the hashtag , using the medical profession鈥檚 abbreviation for 鈥減ersonal protective equipment.鈥
Officials 聽personal protective equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile, and manufacturers like and have boosted production of critical medical supplies.
But for now, that鈥檚 not enough. So charities, corporations and ordinary Americans are stepping up, donating everything from N95 masks to hospital gowns, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer.
If you want to help, here are some answers to questions you might have.
Q: Why is there such a shortage of face masks and other protective gear?
Fear of COVID-19 is generating demand that far outstrips supply. Because no one has immunity to the novel coronavirus, doctors and nurses are exercising caution by wearing protective gear when they see almost any patient with respiratory symptoms or a fever 鈥 most of whom don鈥檛 have COVID-19.
At the same time, panic-buying of N95 face masks and other gear has reduced available supplies. Some people have even surgical masks and hand sanitizer from clinics. Now, with more than confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. as of Monday morning and the number rising sharply, public health officials fear hospitals will soon be overwhelmed with patients, further boosting demand for protective gear.
The supply chain for medical equipment overseas 鈥 mostly in China and Taiwan 鈥 increasingly commandeered by governments for domestic use. And shortages of the fabric and other raw materials used to make masks are beginning to be a problem. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued bleak for hospitals facing shortages, including using homemade masks. The Deaconess Health System in Indiana the public to sew and donate masks that meet CDC protocols, hospitals in Washington state.
Q: What can I do to help?
Whether you want to donate supplies you have at home or at your company, check a recently launched website, , which lists numerous hospitals in need of protective gear in at least 41 states and gives specific instructions, including drop-off points, for donating to each one.
Valley Medical Center Foundation’s flier seeking donations of protective gear for health care workers, including masks, goggles and thermometers.
If you don鈥檛 find your local hospital on that website, try contacting the hospital鈥檚 supply manager to see what they need most. In times like these, however, it may be difficult to reach overworked hospital staff. If your local hospital is a nonprofit or county-run, check to see if it has a foundation or charity arm that may be organizing donations.
In Santa Clara County, California, the charitable foundation for the county鈥檚 vast public safety-net hospital system 鈥 composed of three hospitals and 11 clinics 鈥 launched a via social media and on its website that has garnered tens of thousands of masks, gloves and gowns, as well as thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer, said Chris Wilder, the Valley Medical Center Foundation鈥檚 CEO.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been very heartening. The generosity has been very strong,鈥 said Wilder, who is now soliciting electro-mechanical equipment such as oxygen concentrators and ventilators.
If you can鈥檛 reach a hospital official or foundation, ask health care workers you know what they need. Cyrus Farivar, an Oakland, California-based reporter for NBC News, from his neighbors to deliver to a Kaiser Permanente nurse.
Also try contacting your local government鈥檚 emergency operations office, which may be the center for donations in your area, suggested Cathy Chidester, who directs Los Angeles County鈥檚 emergency medical services agency.
Q: What do hospitals need most?
Chidester said many hospitals and first responders are looking for medical-grade masks, gloves and face shields. And, she said, don鈥檛 forget blood donations, which are down as shelter-in-place orders proliferate. Check the for donation sites in your area.
What hospitals don鈥檛 need are: extremely small quantities, unpackaged, used or expired supplies. If all you鈥檝e got are two loose N95 masks, age unknown, that you found in your basement workshop, don鈥檛 bother.
Q: What help has arrived so far?
The Santa Barbara, California-based humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief has distributed tens of thousands of face masks and other personal protective equipment to more than 1,000 safety-net health providers, $5.5 million in donations from the Clorox Co. Foundation and Verizon.
During wildfires that ravaged Australia in late 2019 and earlier this year, the charity worked with a factory in China to manufacture the masks and amassed 1.5 million of them. Now, it is trying to get more. 鈥淲e thought that was a lot,鈥 said Tony Morain, a Direct Relief spokesperson. 鈥淟ittle did we know.鈥 Direct Relief is now of protective gear.
In California, political consultant Kate Catherall a to gather supplies for bulk donations to hospitals.
Among other donations, IBM contributed 15,000 masks to Santa Clara County鈥檚 public hospitals, Wilder said. Over the weekend, pledged to donate millions of masks to hospitals, and Pacific Gas & Electric said it would donate . Nationally, some dentists who are have dropped boxes of masks and gloves at local hospitals.
Q: Should I donate cash to crowdsourced or other donor campaigns I鈥檓 seeing online?
Be cautious. While there are some legitimate campaigns organized by well-meaning people on crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe, potential as well.
This story was produced by聽, which publishes聽, an editorially independent service of the聽.
