Johnson County spends $285K on COVID-19 gear for first responders, health workers
Despite placing orders since January, public safety and health care service providers in Johnson County haven’t received new shipments of protective equipment since the coronavirus outbreak began, county officials said.
To meet the growing need for safety gear to protect against the virus, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners on Monday allocated $285,000 to purchase masks, gloves, gowns and other equipment. The supplies will be distributed to police and fire departments, hospitals, nursing homes and correctional facilities.
The county entered into an agreement with the local firm Fully Promoted, which has multiple contracts for supplies coming from Greater China Industries — and is expected to meet the county’s immediate needs in one shipment.
Officials hope to receive the supplies by the end of the month.
“Our estimate is that this (shipment) will allow us to get through four more weeks after we receive the supplies,” said Dan Robeson, deputy director of the county emergency management department. “We hope the supply chain will ease up at that point and we may have additional options.” He said Greater China Industries is a registered supplier with the Food and Drug Administration.
Facing a surge of new coronavirus patients, hospitals across Missouri and Kansas are reporting shortages of personal protective equipment, or PPE. Health care workers have turned to places like Amazon to order supplies or have been sterilizing disposable face masks and gowns.
Meanwhile, other front-line workers, such as nursing home staff and police officers, are facing an especially high risk of exposure to the virus while lacking adequate safety gear.
Deputy County Manager Maury Thompson said service providers in the county have been placing orders for supplies since the beginning of the year, but haven’t received any. The county recently received a shipment of safety gear from the national stockpile, but Thompson said there is a growing need for more equipment.
The board of commissioners agreed to allocate funding from the county’s reserves.
Robeson said the county is asking all cities and agencies to provide a list of needs each week, to help track the outbreak and the demand for equipment.
