Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 145 posts

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#21

Post by sp332 »

elihu wrote: post #16

I wonder what if there's a straightforward way to make facemasks by hand, or with tools that are generally available? I'm imagining cutting apart a furnace filter and wrapping the fabric around a wire frame, or something like that. If someone were to develop a process that was simple and reliably repeatable and produced good quality effective masks, that could be a way for otherwise un-busy people to keep hospital st…

It's not that easy to make N95 masks. Other kinds of masks are better than nothing but if you're in close proximity for hours a day, probably not good enough.

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#22

Post by quadrifoliate »

outlace wrote: post #9

There is reason to believe that the hospital mask shortage is due in no small part to employee (and patient/family) theft of masks and not necessarily due to dramatically increased need at hospitals (at least not yet). I say this as a resident physician at an urban hospital in the US. We're now severely low on N95 masks and moderately low on surgical masks but we have only had less than a dozen confirmed covid-19 cas…

Firstly, thanks for your work, and good luck :|

Perhaps theft can explain the reduction, but isn't that equivalent to (for example) a leaky toilet destroying the room that the masks are in? In other words, perhaps it is still indicative a weakness in the hospital's supply chain that they can't make up for a sudden shortage of masks due to rare circumstances.

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#23

Post by DoofusOfDeath »

quietthrow wrote: post #18

Again severe failure on the govt’s part. Their inaction in when it was needed the most led to all these circumstances that makes it ripe for situations like these. As the number of infections spread and economic situation get worse these kind of things will get really really bad. Once the second and third order effects kick in it’s going to be a catastrophe. And our leaders answer to all of this is to give $1200 chec…

> Again severe failure on the govt’s part.

If you live in a democracy, then you are part of the government. You can't just blame other people for this.

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#24

Post by grej »

jeremydw wrote: post #13

I keep seeing articles like this pop up. During one of the first coronavirus press conferences, the White House invited CEOs from Walmart, Target, CVS, etc. – presumably to show strength of the private sector. On the flip side, why can't we enlist money and resources from the private sector to quickly fix some of these supply issues? For example: - Convert car factories to produce masks and ventilators. - Convert con…

Facemasks and other PPE are perishable. Also, many were used in 2009, and the stocks have not substantially replenished in more than a decade.

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#25

Post by outlace »

quadrifoliate wrote: post #22
outlace wrote: post #9

There is reason to believe that the hospital mask shortage is due in no small part to employee (and patient/family) theft of masks and not necessarily due to dramatically increased need at hospitals (at least not yet). I say this as a resident physician at an urban hospital in the US. We're now severely low on N95 masks and moderately low on surgical masks but we have only had less than a dozen confirmed covid-19 cas…

Firstly, thanks for your work, and good luck :| Perhaps theft can explain the reduction, but isn't that equivalent to (for example) a leaky toilet destroying the room that the masks are in? In other words, perhaps it is still indicative a weakness in the hospital's supply chain that they can't make up for a sudden shortage of masks due to rare circumstances.

Oh there's definitely a supply chain issue now; we're not going to be able to re-stock anytime soon is my understanding. So there was absolutely a high degree of unpreparedness at many levels. However, we already nearly depleted our masks and we haven't even had a significant spike in need yet.

If people hadn't been stealing masks for their own personal use outside the hospital, we probably could have had our supplies last another few weeks, which is significant.

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#26

Post by quietthrow »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #23
quietthrow wrote: post #18

Again severe failure on the govt’s part. Their inaction in when it was needed the most led to all these circumstances that makes it ripe for situations like these. As the number of infections spread and economic situation get worse these kind of things will get really really bad. Once the second and third order effects kick in it’s going to be a catastrophe. And our leaders answer to all of this is to give $1200 chec…

> Again severe failure on the govt’s part. If you live in a democracy, then you are part of the government. You can't just blame other people for this.

Agree. Active citizenry is the cornerstone of democracy. That’s why we have elected officials. But when they are unfit for the job and it doesn’t mean you blindly follow them to the abyss. There is something to be said for course correction and not waiting for the next cycle to make changes while millions of people get impacted. There is no doubt that people will needlessly die due to our abject failure to provide these test kits in a timely manner. Maintaining status quo / Dealing with things just for sake of tradition dosnt make sense in 2020. By that logic we should still not have women’s rights and continue on slavery because that’s the way it had been for so long? The leaders can do whatever they want and we have to wait for the next cycle beastie that’s the way things have always been?

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#27

Post by mindslight »

outlace wrote: post #9

There is reason to believe that the hospital mask shortage is due in no small part to employee (and patient/family) theft of masks and not necessarily due to dramatically increased need at hospitals (at least not yet). I say this as a resident physician at an urban hospital in the US. We're now severely low on N95 masks and moderately low on surgical masks but we have only had less than a dozen confirmed covid-19 cas…

Nobody is at the wheel, and this is quite apparent. Federal leadership squandered a month of response time insisting that there was no problem while focusing on corporate welfare to keep pumping the stonk market. Thus demonstrating that the national motto really is "fuck you, got mine".

And so it's not terribly surprising that everyone is selfishly looking out for themselves. Protecting ourselves is literally the only thing we can do. That's a failed society for us.

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#28

Post by baddox »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #23
quietthrow wrote: post #18

Again severe failure on the govt’s part. Their inaction in when it was needed the most led to all these circumstances that makes it ripe for situations like these. As the number of infections spread and economic situation get worse these kind of things will get really really bad. Once the second and third order effects kick in it’s going to be a catastrophe. And our leaders answer to all of this is to give $1200 chec…

> Again severe failure on the govt’s part. If you live in a democracy, then you are part of the government. You can't just blame other people for this.

That’s ridiculous. An average citizen cannot vote more medical supplies into existence no matter how hard they vote.

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#29

Post by atomic_rabbit »

jeremydw wrote: post #13

I keep seeing articles like this pop up. During one of the first coronavirus press conferences, the White House invited CEOs from Walmart, Target, CVS, etc. – presumably to show strength of the private sector. On the flip side, why can't we enlist money and resources from the private sector to quickly fix some of these supply issues? For example: - Convert car factories to produce masks and ventilators. - Convert con…

Turns out N95 masks are quite high-tech, and even China is having trouble scaling up its production. They're made of a material, meltblown fabric, which only a limited number of factories are capable of producing.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/16/8149292...

Re: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

#30

Post by jeremydw »

grej wrote: post #24
jeremydw wrote: post #13

I keep seeing articles like this pop up. During one of the first coronavirus press conferences, the White House invited CEOs from Walmart, Target, CVS, etc. – presumably to show strength of the private sector. On the flip side, why can't we enlist money and resources from the private sector to quickly fix some of these supply issues? For example: - Convert car factories to produce masks and ventilators. - Convert con…

Facemasks and other PPE are perishable. Also, many were used in 2009, and the stocks have not substantially replenished in more than a decade.

I understand. But, it's about keeping a reserve. On one hand, it's wasteful. On the other hand, a maintained reserve can save lives. This is a problem that can be solved with money.

Planet Money did a great episode recently on how the US government is currently paying for a year-round supply of chicken eggs to produce vaccine for a pandemic flu. (https://www.npr.org/transcripts/812943907).

I understand this situation is different from eggs, as an egg not used for a vaccine can be converted to feed, but in the end it's all about money. It's like an insurance policy. I pay for auto insurance but don't use it until I really need it.

Post reply on HN