Hospitals and health care centers are facing shortages of personal protective equipment as the coronavirus outbreak spreads, forcing medical workers to conserve gowns and masks in the early days of the pandemic as the state triages its limited supply out to those most in need.
“Hospitals have seen severe shortages in the availability of personal protective equipment from their vendors,” said Dr. Paul Biddinger, chief of the division of emergency preparedness for Massachusetts General Hospital. “It started with N95 respirators almost immediately in January and has expanded to include gowns, gloves, eye protection.”
MGH still had protective equipment available for clinicians on Friday, but Biddinger said “almost never are we able to get the quantities that we may like in our orders.”
“We are looking to extend the use of our current supplies in line with federal recommendations to make sure we protect our workforce,” Biddinger said. “We’re very concerned about the shortages we’re facing.”
Massachusetts health care facilities staring down a pandemic are already grappling with a dearth of the equipment they need to help stem the spread of COVID-19 — and to protect their workers. And with more cases cropping up daily in the Bay State — there were 138 as of Saturday — Massachusetts health officials are sounding the alarm about imminent shortages.
“Everyone’s on sort of conservation,” said Marylou Sudders, the state’s health and human services secretary who on Saturday was named the head of Gov. Charlie Baker’s new coronavirus command center.
Sudders said the state has only received about 10% of the equipment it requested from the national stockpile. Already, 73,000 pieces of personal protective equipment have been sent to the Berkshires, where Sudders said Berkshire Medical Center had just “several days’ supply left.”
“Who do you try to triage? Who gets it first?” Sudders said, adding there will be a “very focused distribution.”
The World Health Organization and the Food and Drug Administration are prioritizing increasing production of items such as surgical masks and gowns. The FDA has issued conservation tips, including telling health care providers they can extend the use of single-use gowns by not changing between patients with the same diagnosis in a confined area.
The Centers for Disease Control, which recommends wearing a full outfit of a gown, respirator, gloves and eye protection, has updated its guidelines to say face masks were acceptable where respirators are not available and that gowns should be prioritized for activities where “splashes and sprays are anticipated.” COVID-19 is most often spread through respiratory droplets from coughs or sneezes.
Some Boston-area hospitals told the Herald they have adequate supplies on hand, but are concerned about shortages as the outbreak worsens.
Boston Medical Center said it is taking steps to conserve personal protection equipment. A Brigham and Women’s Hospital spokesman said, “We are conserving supplies and limiting hospital staff and visitors entering patient rooms requiring the use of gowns, gloves, surgical masks, N95 masks or Purell.”
Dr. Peter Slavin, president of Mass General, said in a video press conference Friday that medical professionals are hoping for an expansion in production but “we can’t rely on that.”
Slavin said MGH is “likely going to be deferring some elective clinical activities” to preserve equipment. And he said staff came up with the idea to put iPads in patients’ rooms to cut down on interactions to both conserve protective equipment and minimize health care workers’ risk of exposure.
Debra Farrar-Parkman, director of development at the South End Community Health Center, said, “Right now we have what we need.”
But if the number of coronavirus cases spikes, South End Community Health would likely have enough equipment for “maybe a couple weeks or so, maybe longer,” Farrar-Parkman said. “We have a really real concern about exhausting our supply and our ability to resupply given the demand.”
