Beaufort County receives more than 1,400 N95 masks from 2nd national stockpile shipment

Beaufort County hospitals and medical facilities received more than 1,400 N95 masks and other equipment from the county’s share of the United States Strategic National Stockpile to fight the growing coronavirus pandemic.

The shipment arrived Saturday and was distributed by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, Maj. Bob Bromage said. The first shipment was sent to county EMS, firemen and police earlier.

Items were first shipped to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, which then divided the supplies by population need for each of the state’s counties.

The items Beaufort County received include:

• N95 Respirators: 1,440
• Face Masks: 3,500
• Face shields: 672
• Surgical gowns: 564
• Coveralls: 1
• Gloves: 2,000 pairs

Overall the state received:

• N95 Respirators: 44,440
• Face Mask: 105,500
• Face shields: 20,160
• Surgical gowns: 16,422
• Coveralls: 72
• Gloves: 42,000

Beaufort Memorial Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Russell Baxley said Thursday his facility is grateful to have received items from the shipment.

“Five-hundred here, 50 there — it helps in what we are trying to do here,” Baxley said, “in terms of expecting the worst.”

Baxley said the hospital hopes it has enough equipment to get through the pandemic but it, like many hospitals, wants more.

“I’m never going to say we have enough N95 masks through this crises because I don’t think anyone is going to have enough N95 masks, or thinks they do anyway,” Baxley said.

The hospital is still sifting through the supplies it received, and exact counts are unknown, Baxley said.

As of Thursday, Baxley reported the hospital had enough equipment to treat the current patient population.

Joheida Fister of Hilton Head Fire Rescue expressed similar concerns last week.

The agency received 130 N95 masks from the stockpile.

“We just don’t know what tomorrow will be like or the day after that,” Fister previously said. “If the numbers do escalate, we can’t maintain that supply.”

Anyone wanting to donate equipment to Beaufort Memorial Hospital can visit https://www.bmhsc.org/ways-to-give/covid-19/ for more information.

Those looking to donate equipment to Hilton Head Fire Rescue can drop off supplies at bins in front of each of its fire stations, including one at its headquarters at 40 Summit Drive.

Twenty-nine new coronavirus cases were reported in Beaufort County on Thursday, bringing the total to 130 overall, according DHEC release.

The new cases nearly tripled the ten reported Wednesday in the county, which had its first cases reported March 14.

A list of the facilities that received equipment from the second shipment was unavailable late Thursday.

This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 7:05 PM.