River Bend Times

The Iowa Department of Health (IDPH) is asking for businesses and organizations for donations of personal protective equipment (PPE). 

Eye protection, gowns, surgical and N95 fitted masks and gloves are all needed for health professionals in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. New, unopened items are preferred but all donations will be inspected to determine if they are acceptable for use. 

Ken Sharp, the division director of IDPH’s Acute Disease Prevention and Emergency Response and Environmental Health, said there’s a risk of a shortage. Sharp said any organization with extra PPE that isn’t needed immediately should consider donating it to those “on the front lines of the disease.”

The IDPH reported a total of 298 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of March 28. Muscatine County had at least six.

Muscatine County Public Health Director, Christy Roby Williams, told the Muscatine Journal that donations should be taken to the Public Health office at 1609 Cedar Street. Muscatine Public Health provides supplies to all the medical facilities in the county. 

The county’s emergency manager will work in conjunction with Public Health to “balance the community request with the highest need,” Williams said. “We would utilize a rubric scale to determine highest needs to lowest needs, and then they would be distributed based on the discretion of our emergency manager.”

Williams said it is understandable that people are fearful but it is important that people avoid panicking and be realistic about what is necessary to meet their families' needs. She encouraged residents who have a stockpile to share with others in order to reduce the need of people to go out and to also make good use of a surplus. 

Williams said a two-week supply should be sufficient for most people.