You are viewing a news article about Whole Communities Whole Health from April 2020.Office of the VP for Researc

Garcia, Alexandra

Johnson, Karen

Thurman, Whitney

English

Texas ScholarWorks

Recent HeadlinesNavarrette: For Latinos, this election created fogKristof: Keeping schools open one thing Trump got rightStephens: Groupthink has left the left blindNavarrette: Discussing politics of fear, Obama fails to see...Krugman: COVID, climate change and the power of denialOPINION // COMMENTARYCommentary: Get health care workers protectivegear nowAlexandra Garcia, Karen Johnson and Whitney Thurman, For the Express-NewsUpdated: April 9, 2020 7 p.m.Skip to main contentSubscribe Sign InPowerScore™www.powerscore.com/l…START NOW!Learn MoreAd : (0:32)Skip AdThroughout history, when America has been in crisis, ordinary people have steppedup to help each other. We waited in line for hours to donate blood after 9/11. Werescued stranded neighbors after Hurricane Harvey. And today, amid a globalpandemic, Americans are staying home and  ring up sewing machines to makecloth masks for front-line health care providers due to shortages of proper personalprotective equipment, or PPE.As public health nurses and researchers with expertise in pandemic preparednessand decades of experience caring for patients, communities and populations, weknow this situation is untenable. Enough is enough. The federal government mustimmediately provide PPE that meets the same rigorous standard health careproviders have always used when caring for patients with highly infectious diseases.A woman sews masks in her home in New Jersey — a sign of our country’s outrageous lack of preparedness.Together, let’s demand the federal response so desperately needed.Getty Images___ADVERTISEMENTArticle continues below this adPowerScore™www.powerscore.com/l…START NOW!Learn MoreAd : (0:32)Skip AdRecent recommendations from the CDC for health care providers to use clothmasks, even scarves, if proper PPE is unavailable has incited an army of sewersacross the country to make cloth masks. Some hospitals and providers welcomethese efforts, rationalizing that “something is better than nothing” and using clothmasks would preserve PPE.It is outrageous that our country’s lack of preparedness, including slow deploymentof the national stockpile containing some expired items, has brought us to thispoint.Using cloth masks places health care providers, their patients and the communityin danger and may exacerbate the transmission of the coronavirus. Researchindicates cloth masks allow nearly 97 percent of virus particles to be transmittedthrough them. Using cloth masks is akin to using gloves with holes in them — theywon’t stop deadly transmission of microbes.PowerScore™www.powerscore.com/l…START NOW!Learn MoreAd : (0:32)Skip AdStandards frequently loosen in response to emerging crises. However, calling on“last resort” options, like homemade masks, when we have yet to exhaustalternative supply chains for PPE is shortsighted.Only the federal government, with the help of industry, has the capacity to provideaccess to PPE that meets tight standards for preventing transmission of airborneagents such as COVID-19. States have limited capacity to procure the neededequipment for a robust, sustained response to this global pandemic. PresidentDonald Trump recently expanded the Defense Production Act order,  rst issued inMarch, to ramp up production of needed PPE and other medical equipment. But likeh f h hi l b l d i i ’ li l l k ilADVERTISEMENTArticle continues below this adPowerScore™www.powerscore.com/l…START NOW!Learn MoreAd : (0:32)Skip Ad

Commentary: Get health care workers protective gear now

https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/2152/83785/2/Commentary_%20Get%20health%20care%20workers%20protective%20gear%20now.pdf

Commentary: Get health care workers protective gear now

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Texas ScholarWorks