With no shipments from China, medical mask suppliers have to choose whom to supply
Every morning, managers at Dealmed Medical Supplies meet to discuss which customers they can provide with face masks from their dwindling stock. On a recent morning, they decided a local hospital would get 10 boxes of masks fitted with N95 respirators, a total of about 200 masks. The hospital had requested 60 boxes. A request from a chain of dialysis centers also went on the "yes" pile.
Dealmed, an independent medical supplier based in the northeast, a supplier of face masks, gloves and other protective equipment for hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices, has seen skyrocketing demand for masks since the outbreak of novel corouavirus, the company says it hasn't received any new supplies. The Chinese factories that usually make them haven't shipped any new stock in two months, Dealmed President Michael Einhorn said.
We're absolutely going to run out, but we have contingency plans in place," Einhorn said. "We're trying to do the best we can for our customers."
Read the full story by Pamela Boykoff and Clare Sebastian at CNN.com