OT - HF Steps Up

[MrWhoopee]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/202...paign=trending



Dear Harbor Freight Community,

As we’ve been following the news over the last few days, we’ve heard about the severe shortage of protective gear for hospitals, healthcare workers and first responders as the impact of COVID-19 is being felt across the country. America depends on these heroes every day and in the days ahead we will depend on them even more. At Harbor Freight, we want them to know that they can depend on us too.

So we’ve decided to donate our entire supply of the personal protective equipment items listed below to front line hospitals with 24 hour emergency rooms in the communities served by our stores.

• N95 Masks
• Face Shields
• 5 and 7 mil Nitrile Gloves

If you work at a hospital with a 24 hour emergency room in need of these items, please ask the office in charge of procurement at your hospital to click here so they can provide us with the information we’ll need to determine if we can make a donation. If you’re not with a hospital, but would like to give us the name of a hospital with a 24 hour emergency room in your community that might need our help, please email us at [email protected], identify the hospital’s city and state in the subject line, and our team will follow-up.

PLEASE DO NOT MAKE REQUESTS AT YOUR LOCAL STORE OR OUR CALL CENTER AND PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT HOSPITALS—THEY’RE BUSY HELPING THEIR PATIENTS.

For hospitals we’re able to help, we’ll email them a voucher when the supplies are available for pick up at their local Harbor Freight Tools store.

Although we certainly won’t have enough of these supplies to fill everyone’s needs, we’re going to donate everything we’ve got. We also recognize that there are so many other critically important people responding to this crisis and that there is need everywhere. We’ve chosen to focus our efforts on hospitals with a 24 hour emergency room with the hope that we can help as many people as possible right now.

Thank you and God Bless,

Eric Smidt
Owner and Founder
Harbor Freight Tools

[Paul Alciatore]

Well, good for HF. And for the rest of us.

Thank You HF!

[danlb]

Darn generous of them. I'm sure that the HF warehouses have only enough supplies for a few days at the rate that hospitals use them, but that may make a big difference.

[Tungsten dipper]

X2! See, they're not all bad.

[gellfex]

Got that email and forwarded it to a friend who is an ER doc in Newark, NJ. She had just contacted me the other day asking about supplies.

The hospitals have GOT to figure out how to be more economical and get out of the massively disposable cycle. There was an article about how a single urban hospital was using tens of thousands of N95 masks a day, and expected to go up to 70k when the **** really hits the fan. That's just not sustainable no matter what the production! A hospital in the Midwest is bucking the FDA and using UV to disinfect masks and return them to their users repeatedly.

[PStechPaul]

I've been getting emails from Banggood offering face masks and other protective items, but some have complained that their prices have gone up a lot. I don't know if shipping goods from China to the US is restricted. They also have oxygen concentrators for under $300. And UV sterilizers for up to $90 for a large one. I'm not sure if it works on coronavirus, though. Most links I found seem to indicate it does.

[danlb]

Not from a validated authority, but I read that the virus did not survive temperatures above 140F. This bodes well for being able to take a mask off, wash it and dry it in the clothes dryer or the kitchen oven set to low for 10 to 15 minutes.

Dan

[Jim Stewart]

Not from a validated authority, but I read that the virus did not survive temperatures above 140F. This bodes well for being able to take a mask off, wash it and dry it in the clothes dryer or the kitchen oven set to low for 10 to 15 minutes.

Dan

Or toss it (or them) into a pot of boiling water...

-js

[gellfex]

Or toss it (or them) into a pot of boiling water...

-js

Or pressure cook them in the ubiquitous instant pot! But while this would be fine for an old fashioned cloth mask, I'm not so sure for an N95. I've also heard it is very vulnerable to UV, so a few hours on the clothesline should work great too. Even cloudy days have a good amount of UV.

[Galaxie]

Soap alone is considered sufficient:

Professor Krause says that the lipid envelope of a coronavirus is its Achilles heel, because it is readily broken down or busted apart by soap.

“It’s one of those viruses that a good scrubbing with soap and water does quite a good job in breaking down its composition,” says Krause.

That’s right. A 20-second hand wash with soap and water is not just washing any viruses off your hands; it’s actually destroying the viruses in the process.

Turns out that viruses are tough, yet fragile, and that old-fashioned soap is very effective at removing viruses from your hands before they have a chance to infect anyone.

[4miller1]

Outstanding!
That is a great example to follow.
thanks.

[Glug]

That's nice. I'm sure they've been selling a Lot of them. Odd that he gave no indication of how many masks, N95's, shields and gloves they have on offer. I wonder how many they actually have left, at this very late date?

Washing paper masks? Seriously? I am surprised to hear that, from people who have probably used them. Imagine wearing a mask for a 12 hour working shift, all that sweat and moist breathe, and somehow trying to keep it together and intact, and uncontaminated on the inside.. And then you're gonna wash it? N95 masks are thicker and more robust than single ply masks often found in shops.

Remember that an absolutely critical aspect to biohazard protection with masks is proper fit and sealing. If it doesn't have the stiffness to seal, if it gets bent or creased, if the elastics are stretched out, etc...

A low temp dry air "soak" for a period of time, at a particular temp, might work. But that might also break it down further.

[nickel-city-fab]

I've never seen a disposable mask that actually seals. I've been fitted for masks by OSHA and their testing bears this out. The cartridge-type half-face chemical masks are far superior.

[RB211]

I've been getting emails from Banggood offering face masks and other protective items, but some have complained that their prices have gone up a lot. I don't know if shipping goods from China to the US is restricted. They also have oxygen concentrators for under $300. And UV sterilizers for up to $90 for a large one. I'm not sure if it works on coronavirus, though. Most links I found seem to indicate it does.

At least 40% of the worlds cargo is shipped in the bellies of passenger aircraft. Since they are not flying, companies like mine are working in over drive to take up the slack. HELL of a time to be sick, I could be getting 150% OT right now...

[MichaelP]

Not from a validated authority, but I read that the virus did not survive temperatures above 140F. This bodes well for being able to take a mask off, wash it and dry it in the clothes dryer or the kitchen oven set to low for 10 to 15 minutes.

Dan

Don't forget that you need to deal with other pathogens found on the mask besides the virus. Coronavirus is one of the easiest to kill.
Autoclaving or gamma irradiation would be more acceptable for a proper mask sterilization.

But imagine a mask with your colleague's sweat, saliva and nasal discharge inside, and many less appetizing contaminants outside. How would you feel putting it on your face even after it was sterilized? It's, probably marginally acceptable if each person deals with his/her own masks only (like personal masks for use at home). He'd dispose of some, and reuse others after sterilization. Collecting used DISPOSABLE type masks from different people, manually sorting them, sterilizing and redistributing is hardly acceptable from many perspectives, incl. financial one. Old style gauze masks were, at least, washable.