GASTONIA, N.C. — As donations of masks, gloves and face shields continue to pour in, companies and volunteer groups say there are still gaps in who's getting personal protective equipment and what kinds of equipment they're getting.
From sheds to shields, the gap of PPE is being seen in Gastonia. Those involved in making and finding PPE say the needs aren't necessarily cloth masks you see people making online, it's more specialized equipment that can be reused like face shields, gowns and coveralls
Keter North America, which has a plant in Stanley, is among hundreds of companies in the Carolinas changing the products coming out of their assembly lines. The company's marketing vice president, David Foster, says they're making *reusable face shields and donating them to nursing homes.
"Nursing homes, we're finding, just are not getting the PPE that they need," Foster said.
North Carolina's Task Force for Emergency Repurposing of Manufacturing is working more than 300 companies to pivot their operations to making PPE. New state numbers show the state order over 1.6 million face shields from private companies; however, they only got about 850,000.
The state also ordered more than 11 million gowns, but only received 19,000. North Carolina also requested half a million coveralls from the Strategic National Stockpile, receiving just 414.
Dr. Sheila Natarajan of CLT Gives PPE says to bring down those numbers, they're shifting their focus to reusable equipment.
"Unfortunately, we're not in a sprint, we're in a marathon," Dr. Natarajan said.
The volunteer group's "sewing angles" are making reusable gowns.So far, they've supplied 100 to Charlotte firefighters, and they're sourcing materials to make reusable masks and face shields.
"When you talk about long-term sustainability of a worldwide pandemic, where resources are already at a baseline scarce, you really have to be thinking about reusable options of PPE," Dr. Natarajan said.
But reusable options aren't yet widespread. Foster says when Keter offers nursing homes hundreds of reusable shields, they decline the offer and only ask for a couple dozen.
"Their response was, 'we want other people to be able to have it and to share in that,' and I thought that was extremely heartwarming," Foster said.
Keter, CLT Gives PPE and others say they'll continue supplying PPE For as long as necessary.