November 3, 2020 – Nursing homes, small physician offices, and rural clinics are being left behind in the rush for N95 masks and other protective gear, reports Kaiser Health News.
More than 25% of nursing homes in the country reported a shortage of items such as N95 masks, gloves or gowns from Aug. 24 through Sept. 20.
A recent survey from the American Medical Association (AMA) found 36% of physician offices reported having a difficult time securing PPE.
And about 90% of the recent requests from the nonprofit “Get Us PPE” for help with protective gear have come from non-hospital facilities, such as nursing homes, group homes and homeless shelters, reports KHN.
Healthcare leaders are again calling for a coordinated national strategy to distribute personal protective equipment to protect healthcare workers and their patients as a new wave of disease wells up across most of the country. The demand for such gear, especially in hot spots, can be more than 10 times the pre-pandemic levels.
Larger hospitals and other providers are stockpiling what they can even while others struggle. Some facilities are scooping up supplies to prepare for a feared wave of COVID-19 hospitalizations; others are following new stockpiling laws and orders in states such as California, New York and Connecticut.