Dear Colleagues,
As you know, there has been an ongoing challenge to clinically test patient samples and treat patients for COVID-19 infection. Many hospitals in metropolitan centers (Seattle, New York, Boston, San Francisco, etc) say they are facing a severe shortage of medical supplies, including personal protective equipment. Many have less than a one week supply; some have less than a day’s worth of certain supplies (see media links below). Our medical professionals are at severe risk while treating highly infectious patients, and have an order of magnitude higher mortality rate than the patients themselves as a result. As such, we are asking our local communities of research labs, private/public research institutions, and academic institutions to help provide a short-term stopgap by flooding their local hospitals with supplies until national efforts are able to compensate.
We are asking labs if you have personal protective equipment items in stock in your lab, and can provide them to hospitals in your area.
If you do have these supplies and would be willing to donate please fill out this form: https://ppelink.wordpress.com/ppe-donations/
We are asking hospitals what your needs are and will match donors and receivers. If you’re a medical facility in need of supplies, please fill out this form: https://ppelink.wordpress.com/ppe-requests/
PPE needed
- N95 respirators
- Surgical masks
- Protective glasses/goggles
- Nitrile gloves
- Head covers
- Face shields
- Disinfectant wipes
We understand that many of you might not be able to make the decision of whether to donate lab supplies yourselves – in which case, we ask that you discuss with your PIs, advisors, lab managers, staff scientists, directors, ANYONE who would be able to say yes to such a request. We deeply appreciate your time and generosity.
Even if your lab is not able to donate, we would still appreciate it if you could please disseminate this information widely to anyone you know who might be able to help. Thank you again!
Media Links about this issue
March 17, 2020 – “Hospital Workers Make Masks From Office Supplies Amid U.S. Shortage”, Bloomberg
March 17, 2020 – “Got Extra Masks Or Goggles? Mass. Hospitals Already Running Short, Ask For Donations” WBUR
PPE Link 
I am aware of a group out of Australia that has masks and other supplies. However they are for sale. This group does not appear to be trying to gouge. If anyone wants to reach out I can put them in touch.
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Are you only accepting supplies from labs or will you accept supplies from private citizens ?
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We’re focusing on labs and companies for larger volume supplies. Large individual donations may also be ok depending on the items. Else another organization is doing collection of smaller individual donations. Their donation form is here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVn7DeYj7BaVBOtmpUOpFOaK1x-SbHvlrLm4wED77ySFPpLw/viewform
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This is great. We need to get the word out to more researchers. We have to act fast. Every infection we prevent now will mean many fewer infections in a few weeks.
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I’d like to volunteer. I’m a nurse practitioner in Oregon.
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Please email us at ppelink2020@gmail.com and we’ll get you started
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If gowns are in short supply, consider the plastic rain ponchos from Disney and other parks.
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