People are stealing face masks and other health equipment from hospitals and other facilities , according to an article on the Business Insider website.
Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, told Modern Healthcare she had witnessed thefts of masks and other protective equipment from high-trafficked areas in her facility.
The issue is not limited to the United States. Global News reports in Canada include two hospitals where workers had to intervene to prevent people from stealing masks.
US officials have estimated the country only has about 1% of the masks needed for healthcare professionals in the case of a pandemic. While the US government has contracted with 3M to produce 35 million more masks each month, it can only create about 4.1 million each month.
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