A day after Gov Mike DeWine said Ohio had a personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage, he announced a partnership with manufacturers that will address it.
The governor detailed the new Ohio Manufacturing Alliance in which 19 manufacturers have partnered with three hospital groups to begin large scale production of face shields, according to the governor’s Friday press release.
An expected 750,000 to 1 million face shields will be “added” over the next five weeks to the Ohio Department of Health(ODH)’s stockpile, the governor’s press release said.
“These face shields will make a difference as we fight this invisible enemy,” DeWine said. “The Ohio Manufacturing Alliance sent out a call for help producing PPE and more than 1,500 manufacturing companies responded. This reinforces what we know about Ohio companies, they are generous and will answer the call when needed. Together, we are going to protect our protectors and strengthen our manufacturing sector.”
These additional face shields will help Ohio’s “severe” PPE shortage, however, the governor still said there is a N-95 mask deficiency.
“I want to make a public plea to everyone using these masks – every mask is precious, please don’t throw them away,” he said Thursday. “We are trying to get more N95 masks in Ohio, but we still don’t have enough. When you throw a mask away you are depriving someone else of having a mask because we only have so many.”
As of Friday, Ohio has 5,836 confirmed coronavirus cases and 231 deaths, according to ODH numbers.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) projected that Ohio’s projected COVID-19 peak for hospital resources happened two days ago.
Ohio Hospitals prepared well for this projected peak as they had a total of 14,290 beds available. The IHME model said the state only needed 1,205 hospital beds on April 8.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected].
