WAPO: Smallest health providers face biggest problem finding protective gear amid coronavirus surge

From the Washington Post:
By Amy Goldstein
November 22, 2020 at 3:05 p.m. PST

As the coronavirus rages across the country, community health centers and small doctors’ offices, AIDS clinics and homeless shelters are struggling with a scarcity of protective gear to buffer workers from harm, their budgets and buying power unable to compete with large medical institutions.

Most U.S. hospitals and health systems have, over the pandemic’s nine months, stitched together systems and improvisations to acquire masks, gowns, gloves and other personal protective equipment. Yet many small health-care and social-service settings continue to suffer from shortages they expect to grow worse.