It had been months since the state sent any personal protective equipment.
The residents of Dorothy Schlimme’s long-term care homes, many of whom are frail, as well as staff, have been wearing blue disposable face masks she bought from Costco.
She would’ve liked some of Washington’s huge stockpile of N95 masks, which filter 95% of airborne particles, but hardly any of them made it to providers. By mid-November the stockpile had grown to more than 30 million N95s.
This week, however, 150 of the state’s N95 masks arrived for her three Auburn homes, free of charge.
“All the help we can get from the state government is welcome,” Schlimme said. “We’re basically opening our hands.”
Washington officials have been distributing millions of N95 masks over the past month to prisons, long-term care providers, county emergency managers and others. The change comes after pleas from advocates and a November Seattle Times report that spotlighted the state’s extensive surplus.
Washington State has a bit more than seven million people. How many did they expect to need?
An N-95 mask is only good for 8 hours, at most.
ReplyDeleteBut the government of Washington State has taken lessons from the Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico