“At war with no ammo”: doctors say shortage of PPE is dire
With coronavirus cases soaring, doctors, nurses and other frontline medical workers across the U.S. are confronting a dire shortage of masks, surgical gowns and eye gear to protect them. The Open Cities Community Health Center (St. Paul, MN) is considering shutting down because it doesn’t have enough facemasks. Doctors at Barnes Jewish Hospital (St. Louis, MO) are performing invasive procedures on coronavirus patients with loose fitting surgical masks rather than tight respirator masks. Doctors at a Los Angeles, CA, emergency room were given a box of expired masks and the elastic bands snapped when they tried them on. Read more here.
Apple, Facebook donate emergency reserve masks to healthcare workers
Apple and Facebook have each donated emergency reserve masks to help frontline healthcare workers during the coronavirus outbreak. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, tweeted on Sunday that the company was donating “millions of masks for health professionals in the U.S. and Europe.” He also said, “Our teams at Apple have been working to help source supplies for healthcare providers fighting COVID-19.” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, similarly said that Facebook has donated 720,000 masks. He wrote in a Facebook post, “Health workers urgently need more protective gear. To help, Facebook donated our emergency reserve of 720,000 masks that we had bought in case the wildfires continued. We’re also working on sourcing millions of more to donate.” Read more here.
Suppliers worldwide try to distinguish credible buyers from brokers, middle-men distributors
Suppliers around the world are trying to distinguish credible buyers from brokers and middle-men distributors during this global pandemic. There have been reports of fraudulent production and fraudulent claims across the medical and PPE supply chain. Frank Ludlow was arrested in a post office near his home in West Sussex, England, and charged with making fake testing kits for COVID-19. He was arrested by the City of London’s police and intellectual property crime unit after it was contacted by its U.S. counterparts. Ludlow’s test kits allegedly contained harmful chemicals which people were being told to use to rinse out their mouths. Read more here.
Trump administration urges commercial labs to prioritize testing inpatients for coronavirus
In an example of the inadequate supply of diagnostic tests in the U.S., the Trump administration is urging commercial labs to prioritize testing inpatients for the coronavirus. This doesn’t allow everyone to get tested, so the next-best option is for everyone to stay home as it cuts off the virus’ line of transmission. But many people have been ignoring social distancing guidance as researchers learn it’s apparent that asymptomatic carriers are likely important to the virus’ spread. Mark Levin, chair of New York City Council health committee, recently tweeted, “We are in a new phase of this fight. Only one thing matters now: treatment of the gravely ill.” Read more here.
U.S. coronavirus cases top 35,000 as NY governor estimates 40-80% of state will get virus
The number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. has topped 35,000 and at least 400 people have died in the U.S. due to the virus. Almost half the cases were in New York state and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that an estimated 40-80% of New York residents could get the coronavirus during the course of the pandemic. Dr. James Phillips, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at The George Washington University, agrees. “We’ve actually been concerned about that on a countrywide level for months. We’ve discussed this, we’ve seen the modeling, we know how these diseases spread and a lot of it depends on our own responsibility and social distancing,” he told CNN. Read more here.
Millions of U.S. residents given orders to stay home by state governors
Millions of people in at least eight U.S. states face orders by their governors requiring them to stay home. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced a statewide “stay home” order on Sunday, going into effect Monday night at 11:59 p.m. and remaining in place until at least April 6. Officials will reevaluate the order then. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards also issued a “stay home” order on Sunday, effective Monday at 5 p.m. Louisiana’s order will expire the night of April 12 and will be reevaluated at that time. Another “stay home” order was given by Delaware Gov. John Carney on Sunday and will go into effect Tuesday at 8 a.m. Similar measures have been announced in California, New York, Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey. Each state provides for certain exceptions like visiting grocery stores, pharmacies and healthcare facilities. Read more here.