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Wolf: State is COVID-19 prepared with PPE

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is prepared with a stockpile of personal protective equipment.

Personal protective equipment includes protective clothing, helmets, gloves, face shields, goggles, facemasks and respirators or other equipment designed to protect the wearer from injury or the spread of infection or illness. It is not the same as cloth or paper masks that people are required to wear when they leave their homes to protect them and those they interact with.

“I want all Pennsylvanians to know that the commonwealth is prepared now for battling the ongoing pandemic that is COVID-19 and that preparedness extends to a possible resurgence this fall,” said Gov. Tom Wolf. “There are still many unknowns with this virus, and we can’t control those, but we can control what we know and we know that by being ready with enough PPE, we can protect our health care workers, first responders and other essential workers and not overwhelm our health care system.”

To date, the state has distributed close to 5.4 million N95 masks, more than 736,000 gowns, more than 2.75 million procedure masks, close to 7.7 million gloves, close to 1.3 million face shields and a little less than 1 million bottles of hand sanitizer.

Last week the governor visited Americhem International, a Middletown-based wholesale distributor of janitorial and sanitizing products that serves a variety of industries, to thank businesses that worked to supply PPE during the pandemic and outlined the myriad efforts undertaken to ensure the commonwealth is and will be prepared for all PPE needs.

PPE is necessary to protect health care workers, first responders, those working in long-term living and correctional facilities, and those they care for.

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