Expired medical supplies delivered to fight coronavirus. SC says it can use them.

Help began arriving over the weekend for doctors offices and hospitals that face a critical shortage of medical supplies they need to protect staff from infected coronavirus patients across South Carolina.

Most of the equipment is expired and inadequate to resolve the problem over the long term, but state officials say the extra material will still help. They need all the supplies they can get as the presence of the virus expands, officials said.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and the S.C. National Guard began Friday to distribute tens of thousands of hospital gowns, protective masks, face shields and gloves from a national medical stockpile.

Supplies from the national strategic stockpile were being provided to South Carolina and other states in response to a shortage of personal protective equipment, the type used in hospitals to shield doctors and nurses from sick patients.

A growing concern is keeping doctors and nurses healthy so they can treat the expected increase in coronavirus patients. Hospitals across the state were bracing for shortages or were already beginning to feel the supply pinch.

In Kershaw County, where the outbreak has been most pronounced, the looming supply shortage has become such an issue that volunteers have launched an effort to make masks needed by the medical community. In Columbia, officials at the University of South Carolina were seeking donations from university researchers for local hospitals.

“The supply chain is substantially stressed, with demand exceeding supply,’’ according to a March 12 letter written by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, released Saturday by DHEC.

Many of the supplies coming to South Carolina were acquired by the federal government in 2007 to prepare for a possible flu pandemic “and many have exceeded their shelf life,’’ the HHS letter said. Even though the equipment is expired, it has been cleared for use in most situations, the letter said.

Expired N95 respirators, among the highest levels of protection for health care workers treating sick patients, have been tested during the past year to determine their reliability, the letter said. While several models of N95 respirators are no longer manufactured, they performed to standards established by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the letter said.

Columbia, Camden areas get supplies

DHEC Director Rick Toomey, a former hospital administrator, acknowledged that some equipment is out-of-date, but the state can use it.

“The materials from the strategic national stockpile are expired but have been granted a shelf-life extension by appropriate federal agencies,’’ Toomey said.

“It is not going to be enough, but it was what they sent, so we distributed it. We have to trust the federal government that they felt it was sendable, so we received it.’’

Toomey said the amount of equipment delivered to South Carolina this weekend, however, won’t be enough to solve the supply problem. He said he expects more equipment to be delivered at a later date, but did not say if that would resolve the supply crunch.

Toomey said the S.C. National Guard began delivering the supplies to the state’s 46 counties Friday and was to continue that effort Saturday if necessary. The Catawba Indian Nation, the state’s only federally recognized tribe, also was getting supplies, Toomey said.

Supplies were being distributed based on each county’s population, he said. The supplies include 16,780 surgical gowns, 51,000 hospital gloves, 44,000 N95 masks, 176,500 surgical masks and 17,740 face shields, according to DHEC.

Richland, Lexington and Kershaw counties were to receive 2,868 gowns, 9,000 hospital gloves, 7,200 N95 masks, 29,000 surgical masks and 3,068 face shields, according to statistics released Saturday by DHEC.

Richland County will get the most supplies distributed in the Midlands because it is the largest county in the area and one of the largest in the state.

Although the supplies have expired, the more pressing question in South Carolina is whether medical workers will have anything to shield themselves from the coronavirus disease that had grown from a handful of cases two weeks ago to nearly 200 Sunday. DHEC officials say they expect the number of cases will continue to rise in South Carolina.

In some medical centers, personnel are considering reusing certain types of masks or using masks from lumber yards, which rely on face masks to protect workers from dust and other airborne pollutants.

Robert Ball, a doctor working with the Medical University of South Carolina who formerly was with DHEC, said “whether it is expired or not, it is still usable.’’

The lack of masks has been “the weak link in the chain’’ but all the equipment is needed, he said.

Key staff at MUSC held a conference call Thursday to discuss the issue, said Ball, who is working with the university during the coronavirus crisis.

Some of the highest grade masks are sometimes reused because they are fitted specifically for individual medical personnel, but other types are not made for reuse.

Supply crunch looms

Hospitals, medical facilities and doctor’s offices in some parts of South Carolina reported late last week that they are running low on key equipment or expect that to happen soon. The issue was highlighted this week in Kershaw County, where officials expressed frustration at the lack of supplies in a community that leads the state in coronavirus cases.

Schipp Ames, the spokesman for the South Carolina Hospital Association, which represents more than 90 hospitals in the state, said there are concerns of personal protective equipment shortages.

He said there is no statewide inventory of the equipment, known as PPE, but concerns about the lack of equipment has been a major issue during calls with member hospitals.

“We definitely think the PPE has been used more than we expected with the drive-thru collection centers and alternate care sites,” Ames said, referring to the recent upswing in testing people suspected of having the virus.

To help conserve the supply of N95 masks, some mask testing requirements have been eased. The move could help conserve about 50,000 masks, Ames said.

Rep. Laurie Slade Funderburk, D-Kershaw, said Sunday in a tweet that a quilt making business was working with KershawHealth to produce masks.

In Anderson County, in the state’s northwest corner, hospital officials indicated the shortage of personal protective equipment was growing critical.

While the supply currently is adequate, “we do not have adequate supplies (particularly N95 masks) if we have a significant surge in the number of admitted patients over the coming weeks,’’ said Lizz Walker, a spokeswoman for AnMed Health, the area’s major hospital and health care system.

Walker said the 648-bed health care system is awaiting medical supplies, but isn’t sure it will get what it needs.

“In the current situation, shipments are variable and sometimes not what we have ordered, and we do not know our future patient loads, so it is impossible to predict how long these undelivered items will last,’’ she said in an email.

One item not listed in supplies DHEC said the state received from the federal stockpile are swabs, which are needed to collect samples from people who need testing.

Walker said that had become an issue at the Anderson health care system. She said the system didn’t have the “media needed to transport swabs for testing to some labs.’’

The problem has curtailed the number of patients the health care system has been able to test, she said. AnMed is now testing only patients who have risk factors “for high impact from COVID-19.’’

USC seeks help for hospitals

Officials at Prisma Health, the major hospital and health care system in Richland County, did not respond to questions about medical supplies. But an email obtained by The State says the hospital system needs equipment.

Prisma needs key personal protective equipment “that is critical for their health care providers in managing patients with COVID-19 and other diseases,’’ according to an email circulated by a top university official Friday. The email asks university researchers who have equipment in their laboratories and research facilities to donate the equipment.

The email says Prisma health needs N-95 masks, reusable and disposable isolation gowns, surgical masks and infrared temperature devices.

Chuck Petit, a doctor at Encompass health care, which provides rehabilitation services in Columbia, said he has not seen a mask or equipment shortage, but he expects that to change as the number of cases rises in Richland County.

“Everybody is becoming more and more anxious,’’ he said. “We are going to run short in the United States.’’

He said ventilators needed to provide help to patients in intensive care are among the pieces of equipment that could be lacking.

Lexington Medical Center has adequate supplies, for now, a spokeswoman said.

“Like all hospitals and health care organizations across the country, we are evaluating what our needs may be moving forward during this difficult time, and are exploring all options to ensure we have enough supplies for the long-term,’’ Lexington spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson said.

At MUSC, one of the state’s major medical centers, an official said she could not provide data on the need for supplies, but the Charleston university has been planning for eventual shortages and will “continue to open up new supply lines as quickly as we can. ‘

Staff writers Isabella Cueto, Emily Bohatch and Sarah Ellis contributed to this story. This story has been updated.

This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 7:59 PM.

Sammy Fretwell

The State

803-771-8537

Sammy Fretwell has covered the environment beat for The State since 1995. He writes about an array of issues, including wildlife, climate change, energy, state environmental policy, nuclear waste and coastal development. He has won numerous awards, including Journalist of the Year by the S.C. Press Association in 2017. Fretwell is a University of South Carolina graduate who grew up in Anderson County. Reach him at 803 771 8537. Support my work with a digital subscription