Last Updated on April 12, 2020 – 6:59 PM CDT
Vice President Mike Pence asked contractors, construction workers, dentists, and others to donate any extra N95 masks they had on hand to a local hospital. Due to high demand, the masks have been hard to find as supplies nationwide are being used up.
The Moore County Hospital District has also been asking any local sources to donate masks to build up a reserve of supplies to handle a possible surge in COVID-19 cases. Hospitals around the country have found their supplies drained rapidly after their communities were hit with the virus. And with a nationwide shortage, local hospitals like ours have found it hard to get masks just to keep up with day-to-day needs.
Management at Continental Carbon located near Sunray received word that the hospital was asking for masks and stepped up to help. The company’s employees use the masks in their operation and Continental Carbon keeps a supply of N95 masks on hand.
Plant management talked to employees, explained the hospital’s need and asked if employees would be able to cut back on the use of masks temporarily so they could donate some masks to the hospital.
All the employees agreed to cut back on their use of masks and help the hospital in a time of need. Continental Carbon was able to donate a total of 400 N95 masks to help the hospital during this COVID-19 crisis.
Many other stories of people stepping up to help boost the hospital’s supplies are all over social media. People are hand-making masks, gowns, and other items as medical supplies in the U.S. become harder to get due to the huge demand.
At the time this article was first published there were no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Moore County. However, many parts of Texas are quickly becoming infected and more deaths are being reported daily.
In just a weeks time Texas has seen an 11x increase in confirmed cases. On March 17th there were 64 confirmed cases in the state and by March 24th that number had risen to 715 confirmed.
Texas is only two weeks into at least a month-long statewide disaster declaration while Moore County is only one week into its local declaration. As confirmed cases continue to spread rapidly across the state you can almost watch the map like you would a severe weather radar. The red keeps getting closer and closer to our area.
Now is not the time to stop preparing. Now is the time to prepare even more. Calling all Moore County volunteers. Find a way to help our community prepare for a possible COVID-19 storm.
