PPE

Earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, PPE shortages meant that many people were making cloth face coverings out of available fabrics, like T-shirts and bedsheets, or wearing bandanas. Not only are there now plenty of mask options out there, we have data on what materials and designs are most effective at blocking droplets and aerosolized particles.

While masks and other protective gear are crucial in the fight against COVID-19, they can have an incredibly damaging impact on the planet. The director of research at the conservation group Oceans Asia, Teale Phelps Bondaroff, joined LX News to discuss how massive numbers of face masks have been entering our oceans since the start of the pandemic.

In-person learning is expected to resume for the next wave of Boston Public Schools students on Feb. 1, the district and its teachers union said Monday. They’ll be followed by the widespread return of students in phases starting with the youngest students returning March 1 and ending with high schoolers in class in the beginning of April. The new timeline…

Mascon Medical CEO John Chen joins us to discuss getting, and in some cases giving, PPE to those who need it most. How did this company work decades of supply chain connections to get the job done?

Three cities that have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic are receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of personal protective equipment, thanks to Woburn-based firm Mascon Medical. Revere and Chelsea are getting a boost to their coronavirus response efforts with a donation of $400,000 worth of masks, gowns, face shields, electro-static sprayers and other PPE. Both cities have…

A Massachusetts medical company is donating hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of personal protective equipment to two cities hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

Revere and Chelsea are being gifted $400,000 worth of masks, gowns, face shields, electro-static sprayers and other personal protective equipment from Woburn-based supply chain Mascon Medical, which has been working with local bio-medical companies and governments to deliver the products needed to combat the coronavirus.

Tens of thousands of people in Massachusetts don’t have access to soap – a big problem when handwashing is key to fighting the coronavirus pandemic. That’s why a Needham based nonprofit, Hope and Comfort, is working to provide people with the products they need to maintain proper hygiene.

The spring surge of COVID-19 cases brought a mad scramble for ventilators, masks and sanitizer. But anticipating a second surge, hospitals say they’re ready and stocked.

Health care workers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center say they’re prepared for a second wave of the coronavirus — one that will look different than the first. “We are certainly way more prepared than we were the first time around when we talked about it coming in like a tidal wave,” chief nursing officer Marsha Maurer told NBC10 Boston….

The chief nursing officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center says the hospital is prepared for a second wave of the coronavirus – one that will look different than the first.

A study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found that 8% of nursing homes nationwide were at risk due to shortages of at least one type of Personal Protective Equipment, including masks, gowns and hand sanitizer. For a week in August, one in 10 nursing homes in Massachusetts had less than a week supply of PPE or none at all.

With coronavirus cases and hospitalizations ticking upward in Massachusetts, health care workers are espressing concern about a second wave of COVID-19. The 7-day weighted average of positive coronavirus tests increased to 2.2% from 1.7% in mid-July, according to the Department of Public Health. Health officials reported two new deaths and 338 new cases in Massachusetts Wednesday. More than 111,000 people…

The largest cargo flight in Manchester-Boston Regional Airport (MHT) history landed Saturday with hundreds of thousands of protective gowns to be shipped to the areas of greatest need both in New Hampshire and Veterans Affairs medical facilities across the country amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and a handful of other officials, including Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen,…

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and a handful of other officials, including Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, greeted a FedEx charter flight aboard a Boeing 777 carrying 450,000 gowns.

Teachers need pencils, crayons, glue sticks … and plexiglass.

Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL speaks to the devastating impact Covid-19 continues to have at long-term care nursing facilities across the country as they run low on staff and PPE.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a report on Wednesday with recommendations on how districts should prepare to reopen schools.

Eric Lundgren has made the problem of electronic waste his life’s work – and even spent a year in jail for that mission. Now he’s turning his focus to the coronavirus crisis by importing and donating PPE as well as mobile emergency power trailers that use repurposed lithium ion batteries from old Teslas.

The New York Times talks to the innovators and entrepreneurs who have jumped in to help make personal protective equipment for first responders.