SC gets over 400,000 respirator masks, other medical supplies from nation’s stock
South Carolina received a second allotment of medical equipment from the federal government that included more than 100,000 surgical masks and more than 40,000 respirators masks meant to protect health care workers from the coronavirus.
The bounty of personal protective equipment used in hospitals came from the Strategic National Stockpile, and state health officials announced the shipment was received Saturday.
Those supplies included 44,440 N95 respirators masks, 105,500 surgical masks, 420,000 gloves and almost 200,000 surgical gowns and face shields.
More than 530 people in South Carolina have tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, while at least 13 have died, according to health officials.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control received and inventoried the supplies, allotting them to the state’s 46 counties by population, according to the agency. The South Carolina National Guard delivered the supplies.
Charleston County, the hardest hit by the virus with 92 confirmed cases, received more than 3200 respirator masks and 7500 surgical masks. Meanwhile, Richland County — the second hardest-hit county in the state — received over 3500 respirator masks.
Other counties in the Midlands and the Upstate received more than:
▪ 2,400 respirator masks (Lexington).
▪ 2,100 respirator masks (Kershaw, once viewed as the epicenter of the state’s outbreak).
▪ 300 respirator masks (Newberry).
▪ 1,200 respirator masks (Orangeburg).
▪ 4,100 respirator masks (Greenville, the state’s most populated county).
York and Horry counties received over 2000 respirator masks while Beaufort County got almost 1500 respirator masks
The Strategic National Stockpile is the nation’s largest supply of medicine and medical supplies that’s deployed during national emergencies.
DHEC announced that it received it’s first shipment of medical supplies from the stockpile on March 21.; that shipment included 55 pallets of masks, face shields, surgical masks, gowns and gloves.
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 5:17 PM.