As supplies dwindle, UMass Memorial reusing protective masks

Photo | WBJ An N95 surgical mask

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By Grant Welker

UMass Memorial Medical Center leaders in Worcester are concerned about low levels of available protective equipment and are turning to measures, including reusing safety masks.

Those steps, outlined in a staff memo Wednesday, allow health providers to wear so-called N95 masks — tight-fighting surgical respirators — for close encounters with different patients.

UMass Memorial said it has continuously tried to source protective supplies from local and national vendors including those outside the healthcare industry but still doesn't have enough. It has also placed a request to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services's Strategic National Stockpile.

Health and Human Services said March 4 it intended to buy 500 million N95 respirators over the next 18 months for the stockpile. The order encourages manufacturers to immediately increase production of the masks, the order said, but it's not clear how soon those masks could make their way to hospitals.

The order was part of a broader effort to maximize the availability of unspecified personal protective equipment, known in the industry as PPE, the federal department said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines since the outbreak allowing reuse of N95 masks on different patients and to find alternatives to N95 masks where feasible. The CDC has also suggested, if no facemasks are available, using what it calls homemade masks such as scarves or bandanas.

UMass Memorial, which set up a special coronavirus screening area for referred patients Wednesday, is not alone in facing an equipment shortage.

UMass' Marlborough Hospital has also asked the Corridor 9/495 Regional Chamber of Commerce for help obtaining face masks, face shielding and ventilators, the chamber said Thursday.

Major hospitals in Seattle and Washington, D.C., have also been advised to reuse N95 masks, The Washington Post said.

UCSF Health in San Francisco has warned about running out of swabs used in tests, and some hospitals are ending their practice of using a second swab for tests in an effort to preserve their supply, The New York Times has reported. The Times has also reported N95 mask shortages at a hospital in Atlanta and some laboratories running low on equipment that extracts ribonucleic acid from swabs during tests.

The World Health Organization said March 3 it was worried about lives potentially being put at risk because of protective equipment shortages — including gloves, medical masks, respirators, goggles, face shields, gowns and aprons. Supplies can take months to deliver and market manipulation is widespread, with stocks frequently sold to the highest bidder, the organization said.

The American Society for Microbiology issued a statement March 10 saying it was worried about test equipment shortages in particular.

"We are deeply concerned that as the number of tests increases dramatically over the coming weeks, clinical labs will be unable to deploy them without these critical components. Increased demand for testing has the potential to exhaust supplies needed to perform the testing itself," the group said, urging further support from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Demand is likely to increase for testing supplies. The American Clinical Laboratory Association said Friday it expects capacity at commercial labs to exceed 20,000 tests per day nationwide by the end of this week, and for 280,000 tests per week by April 1.