{"id":21522,"date":"2020-02-02T12:58:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T20:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=21522"},"modified":"2020-02-02T12:58:25","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T20:58:25","slug":"direct-relief-rushes-facial-masks-to-china-to-fight-coronavirus-spread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=21522","title":{"rendered":"Direct Relief Rushes Facial Masks to China to Fight Coronavirus Spread"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The shipment, which also contains gowns, gloves, and other protective gear for health workers, was requested by hospitals in Hubei Province.<\/h2>\n
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\"A<\/div>
A shipment of medical aid, including personal protective gear, leaves Direct Relief’s warehouse on Jan. 27, 2020, bound for China, where it will be used by health care providers to protect against the spread of coronavirus. Transportation for the shipment was provided free of charge by FedEx. (Lara Cooper\/Direct Relief)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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By\u00a0Staff<\/a><\/span><\/span>
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Direct Relief yesterday sent via FedEx emergency airlift a shipment of more than 200,000 surgical masks to hospitals in China\u2019s Hubei Province to help protect medical workers against the fast-spreading coronavirus epidemic. Direct Relief\u2019s shipment, sent from its strategic emergency stockpile, also includes isolation gowns, fluid-resistant coveralls, and exam gloves requested by two of the province\u2019s largest hospitals.<\/p>\n

Local officials in Hubei\u2019s provincial capital, Wuhan, have\u00a0called for donations<\/a>\u00a0of protective gear, as Hubei hospitals run short of supplies. Shortages of face masks are being reported all across Asia.<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u00a0has banned exports<\/a>\u00a0of surgical masks for one month and limited purchases to three masks per person. Shortages have been reported in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and store shelves have been\u00a0emptied<\/a>\u00a0in parts of South Korea and Thailand. A top Chinese official on Jan. 26\u00a0warned<\/a>\u00a0that Hubei Province alone needs 100,000 protective suits a day to fight the spread of coronavirus, but that manufacturers in China can make only 30,000 suits per day.<\/p>\n

Complicating matters, most of China\u2019s factories were already in the midst of a 10-day shutdown for the Lunar New Year holiday. This week, the Chinese government extended the end of the holiday from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, while Shanghai\u2019s government\u00a0extended<\/a>\u00a0the holiday through Feb. 9.<\/p>\n

FedEx, which has long been a key supporter of Direct Relief, arranged immediate transportation and donated its transportation and logistics services to deliver the aid, which is scheduled to arrive in Wuhan on Thursday. Direct Relief is working through Hubei Charity Federation \u2014 one of two\u00a0government-designated<\/a>\u00a0donation recipients, along with the Red Cross Society of Hubei \u2014 to convey the supplies to Wuhan Union Hospital and to Xiaogan Central Hospital in the city of Xiaogan, which requested the supplies.<\/p>\n

This is the first time Direct Relief\u00a0has been asked<\/a>\u00a0to provide aid to China since the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province. Direct Relief is working through the newly established protocols to ensure coordination and appropriateness of any imported goods to assist in the unfolding public health situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cDirect Relief is keenly sensitive to the need to respond fast and in close coordination with public health officials in circumstances such as the unfolding coronavirus situation,\u201d said Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe. \u201cWe\u2019re deeply thankful for FedEx enabling such a quick response to very specific requests from Chinese health officials who are managing a very large, complex situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The shipment, which also contains gowns,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","category-health","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21523,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21522\/revisions\/21523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}