COVID-19 Update: PPE Sterilization
April 8, 2020
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—The personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage in Ohio remains severe. Governor DeWine today made a plea to healthcare workers using N95 masks to send them to Battelle which can serialize up to 160,000 masks each day, making them reusable up to 20 times.
“I want to make a public plea to everyone using these masks – every mask is precious, please don’t throw them away,” said Governor DeWine. “We are trying to get more N95 masks in Ohio, but we still don’t have enough. When you throw a mask away you are depriving someone else of having a mask because we only have so many.”
Hospitals should contact Battelle at battelle.org to arrange for mask sterilization.
Governor DeWine also thanked Apple and Apple CEO Tim Cook for recently donating 100,000 N95 masks to Ohio for frontline healthcare workers. The masks will be added to Ohio’s stockpile for distribution.
More PPE donations for frontline workers are still urgently needed. To donate, please visit coronavirus.ohio.gov
CURRENT OHIO DATA:
There are 5,148 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ohio and 193 deaths. A total of 1,495 people have been hospitalized, including 472 admissions to intensive care units. In-depth data can be accessed by visiting coronavirus.ohio.gov.
Video of today’s full update, including versions with foreign language closed captioning, can be viewed on the Ohio Channel’s YouTube page.
For more information on Ohio’s response to COVID-19, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov or call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH.