THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Friday, February 28, 2020 |A
WORLD NEWS
vanni Paolo D’Incecco Bayard
de Volo, Gemelli Hospital’s
head of procurement.
Masks are part of a wider
shortage of basic goods that
health-care workers need to
combat a virus that has sick-
ened 82,585 and killed 2,814.
The European Medicines
Agency said it is worried
about a global medicine short-age, because many active
pharmaceutical ingredients,
the basic inputs for drugs, are
produced in China. Italy’s
main pharmaceutical lobby
this week said it was giving
drugstores a recipe to produce
their own hand sanitizer.
“Masks are just the begin-
ning of the crisis,” said Darius
Sawicki, owner of Poland-based wholesaler Medyk eRKa.
His suppliers have run out of
several health-care products,
including hand sanitizer.
“There is nothing we can or-
der, because their warehouses
are empty,” he said.
Officials in China have told
companies making masks
there to divert their output to
the fight against the domestic
outbreak, The Wall Street
Journal reported this month.
India, Taiwan and South Ko-
rea—which is now grappling
with its own outbreak of the
virus—have banned the export
of masks made in those places.
Some mask makers that
have ramped up production
outside China say they remain
reliant on raw materials pro-
duced there.
“In the next month or so,
we’re going to run out of com-
ponents,” said Ronald Reuben,
chief executive of Medicom
Group, in Montreal, which has
raised production at factories
in France and Augusta, Ga.
“Europe will not be able to
supply its own market.”
—Francis X. Rocca
and Natalia Ojewska
contributed to this article.A Manhattan pharmacy, above, ran out of masks, while Shanghai donated 500,000 to Daegu, South Korea, where the virus has spread.SCOTT HEINS/GETTY IMAGESFace masks? Zinc? Gloves?
Americans are grasping for
ways to brace for what public
health experts say is inevita-
ble: an outbreak of the new
coronavirus.
Public-health experts advise
staying calm and following the
same precautions recommended
for preventing flu or any other
respiratory virus. Stick with the
basics: Wash your hands, cover
your coughs and sneezes, and
stay at home from work or
school when you’re sick.
When should I worry?
Public-health experts say
the looming threat of a coro-
navirus outbreak shouldn’t
feel like a death sentence.
Though it poses a serious risk
for some—namely older indi-
viduals and those with under-
lying health conditions—for
the majority it will likely be a
relatively mild illness.
For now, make provisions,
says Stephen Morse, professor
of epidemiology at Columbia
University’s Mailman School of
Public Health. Arrange to tele-
commute if there is an outbreak
in your area. Check your sick-
leave policy. Arrange child care
in case schools close.
And have the appropriate
amount of medications you need
for any health conditions you
have, says Aneesh Mehta, asso-
ciate professor in the division of
infectious diseases at Emory
University School of Medicine.
If and when the virus starts
circulating in your community,
then consider taking action,
like telecommuting.
Should I buy a mask or
gloves?
Not unless you or someone
in your household comes down
with the new coronavirus.
Vanessa Raabe, a pediatric and
adult infectious-disease spe-
cialist at NYU Langone Health,
says there is no evidence that
masks help if you are healthy.
While the N95 masks used
in hospitals are effective, ex-
perts say they need to be fit-
Vatican sent hundreds of thou-
sands of masks to alleviate a
shortage there. Now officials
at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital,
where popes normally go for
medical treatment, say they
are worried about where to
find masks after their current
stock runs out in two months.
“There has been panic and
a run on supplies,” said Gio-ment stockpiles to fill requests
from hospitals and nursing
homes for thousands of respi-
rator masks, more than one
million surgical masks and
18,000 face shields in the past
month, said Stephanie Buhle, a
spokeswoman for the New
York City Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene.
NYU Langone Health, which
includes about 360 outpatient
centers and four hospitals
around New York, has re-
moved all but an emergency
supply of respirator masks
from many locations to create
a stockpile in case of a U.S.
outbreak.
“We would love if there
would be cavalry on the other
side of the hill. We have to ex-
pect they are not going to
come,” said Michael Phillips,
NYU Langone Health’s chief
epidemiologist.
The stockouts are a reckon-
ing for the West, which for de-
cades has outsourced the man-
ufacture of goods including
medical supplies to China.
Manufacturers say much of
the world’s protective-medical
gear is made in Hubei, the
quarantined province where
the virus emerged late last
year. Hubei is a global hub for
producing masks, bandages,
surgical drapes and gowns,
said a spokesman for Medline
Industries Inc., a Northfield,
Ill., medical-supply manufac-
turer and distributor.
In Europe, where more than
500 cases emerged this week,
chiefly in Italy, officials have
told health-care workers to be
prepared to reuse disposable
face masks because the supply
from China has been cut off.
“It is expected that there
will be no deliveries to Europe
as long as the crisis persists,”
the Robert Koch Institute, Ger-
many’s equivalent to the CDC,
said last week.
As coronavirus spread
through China weeks ago, theHospitals and public-health
officials in the U.S. and Europe
are rationing medical masks
and scrounging for more, as
they prepare for a potential
widening of the coronavirus
epidemic.
Global hoarding has left Eu-
ropean wholesalers with
empty shelves. Manufacturers
outside China say they won’t
be able to fill an exploding
stack of orders for months.
U.S. hospitals and medical-
supply companies have re-
ported dwindling mask inven-
tory and partial or delayed
shipments as the surge in
global demand for protective
equipment enters a second
month.
While many people in China
have taken to wearing masks
in public, the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion and its European counter-
parts are trying to reserve
masks for health-care workers
and patients. The CDC has
urged the public not to use
masks unless told to do so by
a doctor.
Masks known as N95 respi-
rators guard against the virus,
but only if used properly.
Other masks don’t filter out
small particles harboring the
bug.
The U.S. has a stockpile of
12 million N95 masks, Health
and Human Services Secretary
Alex Azar told the Senate Ap-
propriations Committee on
Wednesday. The U.S. would
need 300 million N95 masks to
respond to an emergency, he
said.
A Food and Drug Adminis-
tration spokeswoman said to-
day the agency has received
reports of spot shortages and
urged hospitals to report con-
cerns to the agency.
In New York, officials have
begun drawing from govern-
BYMELANIEEVANS
ANDDREWHINSHAW
Mask Supplies
Drop as Crisis
Hits More Spots
ted for the individual. That oc-
curs for health-care workers in
hospitals, but not when people
buy such masks online or over
the counter. You could con-
sider wearing one, she says, if
you are sick or in close contact
with an ill child or loved one.
Gloves also are only useful
if you are taking care of an ill
child or loved one and are in
contact with bodily fluids.What about taking zinc
or other medicines as a
preventive measure?Public-health experts say
there is no known substance
we can take to decrease our
chances of contracting the
new coronavirus. The best pre-
vention is washing your hands
frequently for at least 20 sec-
onds and staying home when
you’re sick for at least 14 days.Do I need to buy specific
cleaning products?
Regular household disinfec-
tant wipes and cleaners should
suffice. If someone at home is
sick, the CDC recommends
cleaning surfaces that are
touched frequently.What should I do if a
family member comes
down with the virus?Try to have them isolate
themselves as much as possi-
ble. Dr. Raabe says to havethem sleep and rest in a dif-
ferent room and use a differ-
ent bathroom, if possible.How do I distinguish
the new coronavirus
from the flu or the
common cold?
It is impossible to do based
on symptoms alone, Dr. Raabe
says. The main symptoms of
the new coronavirus are fever,
cough, shortness of breath, and
general fatigue and muscle
aches. These overlap with the
symptoms of any respiratory
virus. The only way to know for
sure is to get tested by a doc-
tor. Experts recommend calling
your doctor ahead of time as
they may recommend a virtual
visit first or take specific pre-
cautions if you go to the office.Any precautions I
should take for my
young children?The good news for parents is
so far the virus appears to be
less serious for children, Dr.
Raabe says. Only 2% of re-
ported cases so far have been
in children, according to a new
study. Children who have got-
ten the virus have had milder
disease, she says, and there
have been no reported deaths
in children under age 9. Still,
children may play a role in
transmission. Keep your chil-
dren out of school and away
from others if they are infected.BYSUMATHIREDDY
Guarding Against Outbreak?
Keep to the Tried and True
A passenger on a train in Oakland, Calif., wears protective gear.SAM HALL/BLOOMBERG NEWSYONHAP NEWS/NEWSCOM/ZUMA PRESSH
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