GETUSPPE.ORG & PROJECT N95 COMBINE FORCES TO CREATE THE LARGEST DEMAND SIDE DATABASE FOR PPE NATIONWIDE
GetUsPPE and Project N95, two relief organizations addressing the critical shortage of PPE supply, today announced a national partnership to more efficiently source, match, and deliver PPE to healthcare providers. With this partnership, Project N95 and GetUsPPE combine their extensive PPE demand databases into the Demand Data Hub, designed to be the single destination for healthcare workers to report their PPE needs, and the nation’s authoritative source for PPE demand data. The Demand Data Hub now includes PPE requests from over 7,000 healthcare facilities. This collaboration will be a force multiplier in getting PPE to those who need it most—fast. Our data on current supply of PPE in health care facilities by state and region was featured this week in Time.
MoveOn.org set up signs calling for more personal protective equipment on the West Lawn of the Capitol on Friday. Photo credit: Evelyn Hockstein for the Washington Post
WELCOME TO THE WILD WEST
A few weeks ago, Illinois Comptroller Susan Mendoza was speeding down the highway to a McDonald’s parking lot in Dwight, Illinois with a $3.4 million dollar check for a guy, who knew a guy, to buy masks. “You feel like you’re doing some kind of sketchy drug deal, but you’re really working hard to try to save people’s lives,” Mendoza said. This week? The New England Journal of Medicine published an account by a chief physician executive who was vetting to-be-purchased medical masks when two FBI agents arrived.
MASKS: THE NEWEST WEARABLES
Masks are in fashion at the dawn of this decade—and they are now mandatory in many places. Face masks may be the new condoms, but they are also the new fashion accessory, and slowly and steadily, brands are coming around, though few mass market brands have launched masks for consumers. Some say the fashion industry’s push to make non-N95 fabric masks for medical workers are misguided and that fashion and apparel manufacturers should instead make fabric masks widely available to non-healthcare workers to protect the public, to help take the pressure off demand of medical-grade PPE for those on the frontlines. Right now the masks-for-all market is dominated by boutique brands and Etsy—searches for masks on Etsy are up dramatically in recent weeks. Which American sartorial heavy hitter will be the first to enter the fray? Hopefully, that’s in next week’s update, but for now smaller brands are besting them. The New York Times has some guidelines and do’s and don’ts on mask wearing for the rest of us.
#PPEMATCHMADE
In the last week, GetMePPE Chicago distributed 4280 N95s on behalf of GetUsPPE to community hospitals and organizations on the South and West sides of Chicago.
GetUsPPE.org is a fast growing non-profit coalition of volunteers building a centralized platform to get PPE to healthcare providers on the frontlines. Contact info@getusppe.org for more information on opportunities to volunteer and ways to contribute.
