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Monday, July 13th, 2020

America still doesn’t have enough N95 masks

Author:     Rebecca Heilweil
Source:     Vox
Publication Date:     Jul 10, 2020, 3:35pm EDT
 Link: America still doesn’t have enough N95 masks
Stephan:   If you, like me, are seeing the daily figures arising from this pandemic, you know that we have 4% of the world's population and 25% of the world's Covid-19 cases. The United States thanks to the Trump administration at the federal level and Republican governors at the state level has made a catastrophic hash of the pandemic. What I find particularly disgusting is the danger in which these corrupt incompetent morons have put the very people working to save the lives of their fellow Americans. Five months into this crisis and they still can't get enough gear to do their jobs without stress.  These men and women, many working double shifts seven days a week, day after day, can't even get fundamental protective gear. How is that possible?
A member of the medical staff listens as Montefiore Medical Center nurses call for N95 masks and other critical PPE to handle the coronavirus pandemic on April 1, 2020, in New York.
 Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty

In the early weeks of the pandemic, it was nearly impossible to buy N95 masks. These masks, unlike surgical masks or cloth masks, are tight-fitting and filter airborne particles that can carry the virus, making them a key source of protection for health care workers, some of whom have died after being exposed to Covid-19 at their medical facilities. Now, as the United States continues to reopen and the number cases and hospitalizations surge, that troubling shortage of personal protective equipment — and especially N95 masks — is once again a problem.

A survey from the National Nurses Union found that 85 percent of nurses reported being asked to reuse personal protective equipment that’s meant to be single-use. At one private clinic in Arizona, medical workers are treating Covid-19 patients without being given any N95 masks, according to the New York Times. The shortage is so dire […]

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