Personal Protection Equipment

Many people who get COVID-19 have mild illness they can take care of at home, but some people need to see their healthcare provider or get care in the hospital. When we need healthcare, we trust that our health care providers will have the resources they need to provide safe care. Things like beds, room in the ICU, and all the gloves, gowns, and masks that protect the healthcare providers and keep their patients safe.

But, there is a worldwide shortage of these gloves, gowns, and masks. There are not enough of these personal protective equipment being produced anywhere in the world. And all over the world, COVID-19 has contributed to an increase in the number of people needing care.

The United States prepares for this very situation by stockpiling supplies in the Strategic National Stockpile. When the state and a health care facility’s normal suppliers can’t find a vendor who can sell them the needed supplies, the state requests these supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile. To help our health care facilities in Washington, the Department of Health, has already made this request for supplies from the federal government.

We have received two shipments so far. That looked like eight tractor-trailer loads and six courier deliveries of supplies since March 4, 2020. That allowed us to send more than 70,000 gowns, 200,000 masks, and 100,000 gloves to more than 50 Washington healthcare facilities.

You can help too!

• Social distancing — staying home, avoiding groups of people, keeping kids home — can make a huge difference in the number of people affected by COVID-19 and the number of people who need health care. When we all stay at home, this lets us save limited health care resources for the people who need them the most!
• Don’t attempt to purchase masks or take them from your health care provider’s office. Masks don’t protect healthy people from COVID-19 during normal, everyday travel and activities. Masks are used in a health care provider’s office to help cover coughs for sick patients and to allow the providers to care for patients safely.

Stay tuned to our blog for more information on how you can help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Daily update on COVID-19 case numbers

Our Department of Health COVID-19 webpage is updated daily with the number of people confirmed to have positive cases and the number of people who have died of COVID-19 in Washington State. As of this writing, 568 people in Washington have tested positive for COVID-19, and 37 have died of the disease. We are very likely to see more people with COVID-19 identified in the coming days.

Get and spread reliable information on COVID-19

This blog update is current as of the day it is posted, but information changes rapidly. Please check our website for the most up-to-date info on Washington’s response to COVID-19 at www.doh.wa.gov/coronavirus.

Fight stigma, public panic, and misinformation by getting your information from trusted sources. Listen to guidance from the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and your local health department.

Contact us

If you have questions or concerns about COVID-19 in Washington state, start by visiting our website. Public can contact our call center 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, at 1–800–525–0127.