Long Island nurses worry about lack of PPE supplies as coronavirus apex looms

Long Island nurses say they are worried they don't have enough personal protective equipment for the possible surge in patients.

News 12 Staff

Apr 5, 2020, 9:28 PM

Updated 1,474 days ago

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Officials estimate that the coronavirus apex is about a week away, and Long Island nurses say they are worried they don't have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) for the possible surge in patients.
Nurse Yasmine Beausejour, of the New York Nurses Association, says she and other nurses are being asked to reuse their PPEs, but they don’t feel that it is safe.
Some health care workers tell News 12 they’re getting creative - and even improvising - by using PPE more than once or even making their own, like from plastic garbage bags.
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran says supplies are stretched to the limit.
“We are scouring, the state is scouring, the nation is scouring for this very vital PPE, personal protection equipment for our health care workers, but this is the crisis right now. We’re in it right now. We need it now," says Curran.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone says the county is essentially out of its PPE supplies. He said Sunday that a vendor committed to send 150,000 masks to Suffolk after Rep. Lee Zeldin raised the concern with the White House.
“What is really significant I think that the congressman has done is get that commitment from the White House, that they understand what’s happening here and they understand the needs and that they will work with us," says Bellone.
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