The growth in COVID-19 cases and growth in death toll is exponential while the supply of PPEs is not. The first 100,000 COVID-19 cases took 67 days, the next 100,000 cases took 11 days, the next 100,000 cases took 4 days. Most major cities in the US are currently doubling cases every 2-5 days.
Meanwhile, new PPE manufacturing and shipping will take from weeks to a month to ramp up. 3M will make about 50 million masks a month, still well short of 300 million and requiring time to get to full capacity. Tech giants have committed about 9 million masks though it is still unclear when all of those will be shipped. NY Presbyterian, just one of the 200 hospitals in New York, could run through 9 million masks in 6 months.
In addition, the hospital procurement process takes a lot of time to conduct quality checks and to protect themselves from liability issues. This is understandable in normal times, but not timely when doctors and nurses are having to make or bring in their own masks because of the shortage.
While we’re really pleased to hear about the stories of companies and agencies working furiously to supply PPEs, our mission is to bridge the gaps that still exist today until those large volumes of masks actually arrive at hospitals and manufacturing is cranked up.
At the federal level, limited supply is being allocated from FEMA. However, allocations are not happening in enough time or quantities to meet the exponentially growing demand. FEMA is under resourced in both staffing and supply. The federal government is instructing local and state governments to procure supplies themselves to take the burden off the federal government, and to ask for donations of supply. In many cases, we hear of hospitals that are simply overwhelmed.
We have classmates working tirelessly through researching options and tapping into personal networks across the country and globally to find suppliers that can provide and ship PPEs. Through our classmates’ connections in China, we have found reliable suppliers that manufacture KN95 masks and other types of PPEs and can ship them to the US.
In the US, we have several networks across the country including doctors, nurses, and other friends that are volunteering their time to identify needs and in some cases, helping to deliver PPEs directly to local hospitals around the country.
We are sourcing KN95 masks (as well as other types of PPEs such as surgical masks). KN95 masks are nearly identical to N95 masks and are now FDA approved for usage in US hospitals and are also widely accepted at hospitals in COVID-19 hotspots. In any case, they are superior to the bandanas, scarves, and other make-shift gear healthcare workers are beginning to use.
We have delivered over 60,000 KN95 masks in a few weeks to over 30 different hospitals in over 10 different states. We have ongoing shipments of upwards of 10,000 masks each week from our suppliers, though we need more funding to keep this going in the short term. We also have a network of doctors and nurses who are friends, relatives, classmates or former students that have directly advised us on needs, location, and technical information on supplies.
We encourage you to donate to other campaigns as well since we do not believe this is a competition.
However, our mission is personal to us and we are committed to being as efficient and effective as possible. We truly appreciate your support.
Please contact one of our team members if you would like to arrange a donation. Our team is based primarily in the SF Bay Area, but we also have teammates at cities across the nation.
Here is a list of hospitals accepting supplies:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-how-to-donate-personal-protective-equipment-ppe-health-care-workers/
We are not currently a 501(c)3 organization. However, should things change, we will let you know as soon as possible. Donations made to a GoFundMe Personal campaign are generally considered to be personal gifts and are not guaranteed to be tax-deductible. You can always check with a tax professional to be sure.