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"Regarding personal protective equipment—surgical gowns, gloves, masks, respirator protective devices, or other medical equipment designed to protect the wearer
by jefftk 7y ago
"Regarding personal protective equipment—surgical gowns, gloves, masks, respirator protective devices, or other medical equipment designed to protect the wearer from injury or the spread of infection or illness—the FDA has heard reports of increased market demand and supply challenges for some of these products. However, the FDA is currently not aware of specific widespread shortages of medical devices, but we are aware of reports from CDC and other U.S. partners of increased ordering of a range of human medical products through distributors as some healthcare facilities in the U.S. are preparing for potential needs if the outbreak becomes severe."
This is very weird: my understanding is that masks are sold out at standard suppliers and have been for a while (though available at extremely high prices from resellers). This seems like it is beyond "supply challenges" and into being a "specific widespread shortage"?
- SargeZT 7y agoI think they're referring to availability for medicine. My facility has zero issue ordering PPE at the moment; we order many thousands of boxes of gloves and masks and have no issue with that.
- alasdair_ 7y agoI wonder how many boxes of masks "go missing" in a given month and if this will spike now that the resale price is so high.
- hanklazard 7y agoWe're starting to keep a more careful eye on inventory for that reason.
- Consultant32452 7y agoI'm guessing they mean "specific widespread shortage (at medical facilities)." Which is categorically different from a retail shortage at your local pharmacy or retail store.
- ssully 7y agoI am guessing they are speaking specifically about supplies to medical facilities, not the general public. The NYTimes ran an article recently [1] that makes it sound like the New York area has a hefty stockpile ready in the case of an outbreak. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/nyregion/new-york-coronavirus.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/nyregion/new-york-coronav...
- reaperducer 7y agomy understanding is that masks are sold out at standard suppliers and have been for a while Where I live it's hit-and-miss, but not as bad as it used to be. When this first started, masks were hard to come by because people were buying out stores to ship to relatives in China. Today I've been to three places, and two of them had masks. The third was out of hand sanitizer.
- scottlegrand2 7y agoUnavoidably slightly political but... I saw a shift in behavior following Trump's conference appointing Mike Pence as the effective coronavirus czar. Every morning there was a small stash of N95 masks at my local Home Depot until yesterday. Similarly I started seeing specific sorts of non-perishables disappearing from the shelves of Trader Joe's and Safeways. Where it goes next, I don't know. But I think the crowd has spoken on the subject already.
- airstrike 7y agoCorrelation, causation, etc.
- Johnny555 7y agoOff topic from your post but: Every morning there was a small stash of N95 masks at my local Home Depot until yesterday Why do you go to Home Depot every morning?
- rvnx 7y agoLikely to buy these masks :D
- scottlegrand2 7y agoBuying them for my elderly Chinese inlaws, yeesh. As an asthmatic, I already had a bunch for fire season so I really don't need any more.
- 7y ago
- mc32 7y agoI think they’re still in stock at _some_ Home Depots. At least last I checked. In any case, an N95 mask is insufficient if you don’t cover eyes as well and don’t use IPA70/Sporklenz or similar after touching any common surface. 10% bleach should also work but it’s nastier (to skin and materials).
- themodelplumber 7y ago> IPA70/Sporklenz OK, searching on that term brings up an impressive number of PDF data sheets. IPA70 seems to mean Isopropyl Alcohol, 70%. Sporklenz no idea but it conjured up images of a European Homer Simpson repping cleaning products as _Mr. Sporklenz._ (Herr Sporklenz?)
- milankragujevic 7y agohttps://www.sterislifesciences.com/products/surface-disinfectants/sporicide-cleaners-and-sterilant/spor-klenz-ready-to-use-cold-sterilant https://www.sterislifesciences.com/products/surface-disinfec...
- themodelplumber 7y ago> Spor-Klenz® Ready-to-Use Sterilant > cleanroom disinfectant, sterilant and sporicidal cleaner Ah...got it. Thank you. > Odor: Vinegar Ewww. Hope it's not too bad. I wouldn't want a strong vinegar smell in my clean room. Also interesting: "Spor-Klenz RTU sterilant was found to be effective against mouse hepatitis virus, minute virus of mice, murine norovirus, murine para influenza virus type 1 (Sendai) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) when tested according to EPA guidelines undiluted for 10 minutes at 20°C (68°F) exposure. Spor-Klenz RTU sterilant was found to be effective against mouse parvovirus when tested according to EPA guidelines undiluted for 25 minutes at 20°C (68°F). Treated surfaces must remain completely immersed for 25 minutes."
- cwkoss 7y agoThat hyphenation makes a lot more sense, I was parsing it as 'spork-lenz'
- hanklazard 7y agoI work in an outpatient medical office. Our office manager said that the major mask supplier that we use is rationing the number of boxes of masks that can be ordered, but still fulfilling orders. So while there may be a true shortage in medical facilities in the future, current shortages are in retail. Or at least that's my n=1 data point.
- Scoundreller 7y agoUsually one gets put on "allocation", where you can only order amounts based on your historical ordering history. Sometimes it's 100%, other times it's less, depending on actual availability. Helps prevent stockpiling, but creates issues if your operation is bigger than it used to be.
- hourislate 7y agoManufacturers have stop shipping Masks and other protective gear to retail. Everything is going to the the Healthcare Industry. HomeDepot will not get resupplied, Hospital down the street will get everything.
- Aeolun 7y agoSo we’re not containing the spread, we’re just fighting symptoms. Joe can get sick, as long as the doctor treating him doesn’t?
- ggm 7y agoDo you even understand risk planning and management? Triage? If the masks help people in direct contact maintain health and deliver health services more people survive, than if random people consume masks without contact or assessed risk. Masks are in short supply? What's the rationale to NOT direct masks to higher efficiency outcomes. We don't all consume naltrexone in case heroin accidentally falls in our mouth. Prophylactic use of antibiotics ruined antibiotics because of emerged resistance. If you know you need a mask you can get one. If you want a mask at the cost of a health professional doing their job, shame on you. Joe doesn't know he's sick. Joe won't avoid getting sick wearing a P2 mask. A health worker in P2 mask and gloves can avoid cross infection risks and help reduce transmission working in an environment of higher risk exposure. if Joe is infected and knows he is infected he will either be hospitalized or isolated. If Joe is prodromal the likelihood the knows and uses a mask to good effect is lower than the likelihood nobody knows and he isn't sick and the mask is wasted. Do the maths.
- ianai 7y agoActually masks aren’t meant to help keep a person from getting sick. For that, wash your hands frequently and wear gloves. Masks are for people infected. Contain the contagion at the source with a mask. Doesn’t do anybody good for the paranoid to have all the masks.
- 7y ago
- UncleOxidant 7y agoOne would hope that the government has a stockpile of a lot of this sort of thing. The question will be whether they stockpiled enough.
- iudqnolq 7y agoFYI on the extremely high prices: while the prices from online resellers are dramatically higher than before all this, they're still probably affordable for most people on this forum, in the range of $5-$20 per disposable N95 mask. (CDC says you can reuse disposables)
- arcticbull 7y agoThe masks do absolutely nothing for the general public. The purpose of a mask in a hospital setting is to stop what's in you from going into anyone else. That's true of both the doctors in the OR and patients. They do nothing to stop what comes out of someone else getting into you. Unless you're wearing a full-on bio suit like in a research facility or an N95, save yourself the trouble. [1] Just wash your hands before you touch your face. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/main-focus-preventing-coronavirus-spread-should-be-hand-hygiene-not-n1144346 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/main-focus-preven...
- panarky 7y agoTrue for cheap surgical masks, definitely not true for N95 or P100 masks with HEPA filters. If you are carrying for a sick person in your home or in a hospital, you need a quality mask and eye protection.