Community Chat

[KarenQVC]

@Starliteshine  There you go.  I am concerned about the health care workers and military.  If they don't store masks, the gov. should have contacted 3M to make more two months ago.

[pitdakota]

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@Cakers3 wrote:

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@KarenQVC wrote:

I thought the gov had warehouses with large numbers of masks for health care workers and military--not last minute buying.

Are health care workers required to work if they are not propery protected?  I would think they would call in sick.

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@KarenQVC   Where are you getting that information from?

And the masks, especially if not stored properly, do expire.

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Hi @Cakers3, I can't be sure but @KarenQVC may be referring to the Strategic National Stockpile.

The CDC does maintain these type of supplies with the goal to be ready to respond to a national emergency anywhere within the United States in under 12 hours.  

In my day, we called them "push carts".  They are specific crates of packages that contain certain medical supplies and medications that can be loaded on planes and "pushed" to any location within hours to assist in a federal emergency. 

Of course, many of the supplies will expire so they routinely rotate expired items out and replace.  I have no idea what the number of masks might be specifically, but certainly masks and personal protective equipment for workers would be included in these supplies. 

However, the purpose of the strategic national stockpile is not to be the sole provider of supplies either.  

Here is a link to the cdc webpage about the strategic national stockpile.

https://www.phe.gov/about/sns/Pages/default.aspx 

[x Hedge]

 I've done purchasing for both hospitals and rehab/nursing, and believe me, we weren't ordering gloves and masks from Costco, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Lowe's, etc.

Our suppliers manufactured and distributed to buyers in our industry.

All sales were business to business, and not turned around then for retail sale.

So health care institutions aren't in direct competition with the frenzied consumer hoarder.

Once again @KarenQVC , what's your source for that claim in your thread title and OP?

Because it doesn't hold water.

[tansy]

It seems the surgeon general has had it. And he has a simple request for Americans: Stop buying face masks. He was so serious about that message that he wrote it in all caps. “Seriously people,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams wrote on Twitter, “STOP BUYING MASKS!” Adams went on to note that masks are “NOT effective” for the general public and the demand from those who don’t need it puts healthcare providers at risk.

[KarenQVC]

@pitdakota That is it--the gov stockpile.  In CA, 134 health care workers are out of service at home because the gov denied that first community patient a test kit for 4 days-- because there weren't enuf.Those test kits could have been put into production by the millions a couple months ago.  Same with the masks.

If patients had been tested and health care workers had been properly dressed since we knew about this thing, there would be fewer infections.  I worry about people who don't go to the doctor because they have no insurance and no money.  It seems to me we are inviting a bigger surge of cases because we don't have the capacity to provide free tests to appropriate patients.

[sunshine45]

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@Porcelain wrote:

I would assume health care entities have their own suppliers and don't have to get their masks at Walmart or Amazon. Right?

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@Porcelain 

i have said this on other threads.

my daughter works in a healthcare facility and they have been without masks and gowns for two weeks now.

going to check in with her tomorrow when she goes to work to see if they were able to obtain any.

[pitdakota]

@KarenQVC, the patient you are talking about was not tested not because they didn't have enough tests, but because the patient did not fit the criteria for testing in this country at that time.  The criteria for testing at the time was only for people that had traveled to and/or from an affected area, contact with someone that had traveled to that area, or contact with someone diagnosed with the disease.

At that time, no states had any kits for testing all samples had to be sent to Atlanta to the CDC for testing.  

Once this patient became patient zero for community acquired transmission, they increased the level for testing.  Various states, agencies, and groups have been working on testing kits that have to be approved by the FDA before they can be put into use.  But I do know the CDC had problems with a reagent in their testing kit they were working on for states as they stated in their public statement.

@Cakers, meant to also say that due to 2019 budget cuts to the CDC the strategic national stockpile was placed under the auspice of the department of health and human services.  

[Shorty2U]

From the medical field; Masks do nothing to prevent you from getting anything. It does prevent others from getting it from you. And PS as I just posted on the other thread, 2 of my firends trips to Italy for May and June have been canceleld by their travel agents. No ones taking travel chances. Italy has this virus spreading bad.

[Sushismom]

Because I have a catheter for dialysis, I MUST wear a mask while being hooked up. I go twice a week and haven't seen a shortage at my dialysis center. 

It's interesting that some other health care facilities are out. 

[x Hedge]

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@Sushismom wrote:

Because I have a catheter for dialysis, I MUST wear a mask while being hooked up. I go twice a week and haven't seen a shortage at my dialysis center. 

It's interesting that some other health care facilities are out. 

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Health care staff are stealing supplies. That's not new. But the rate of theft has probably increased.

No, no shortage. Have surgical rooms across the country gone idle for lack of masks?