Get Me a Mask! The Challenge of Equipment Supply Chains.

* Abbreviations: COVID-19 — : coronavirus disease 2019 HBB — : Helping Babies Breathe LRS — : low-resource setting PPE — : personal protective equipment SU — : single use You are called to attend an emergent cesarean delivery at term for decreased fetal movement. The mother has a cough and a fever and a pending coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) test. As you prepare, you look for a new N95 mask, but there are none to be found. Many of you do not need to imagine this scenario because, during this pandemic, it has been your reality. Do you have an N95 mask to wear? Did you early on, at the start of the pandemic? Have you worn it for patient care already? What about use for multiple patients, over multiple days, although the majority of N95 masks are designed to be discarded after a single use (SU)? The COVID-19 pandemic has brought extraordinary challenges to the practice of health care. Providers have had to adapt to changes while striving to uphold standards of safety for themselves, their patients, and their patients’ families. Not all providers have had what they need to stay safe. Limited supplies of N95 masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) have cost the lives of health care professionals all over the world. Although this has been a new experience for many in well-resourced settings, this pandemic brings to light a grim reality that colleagues in low-resource settings (LRSs) know well. Beyond a lack of PPE, the shortage of essential daily resources needed to provide safe, lifesaving care adds to glaring global health disparities. Shortage of trained personnel and essential … Address correspondence to Anne White, MD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, East Building MB630, 2450 Riverside Ave, Minneapolis, MN, 55454. E-mail: whit3243{at}umn.edu