One-third of America's safety-net hospitals and other facilities don't have the personal protective equipment the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for treating Ebola patients, according to a nationwide survey conducted by Direct Relief.
Direct Relief issued the survey to its national partner network of more than 3,000 nonprofit health facilities across all 50 states. Respondents, representing facilities in 49 states and Puerto Rico, reported current supplies of PPE at the following levels:
No surplus supply
- Waterproof shoe covers — 75.7 percent
- Waterproof gowns — 62.8 percent
- Face shields — 59.5 percent
- N-95 face respirators — 53.8 percent
Surplus supply (in amounts to last more than one month)
- Nitrile gloves — 65.9 percent
- Hand sanitizer — 78.8 percent