Puerto Rico discovers protective supply cache amid COVID-19
The suspected mismanagement of essential supplies during Hurricane Maria ended up being a boon for Puerto Rico as it fights a growth in coronavirus cases.
Health Secretary Lorenzo González said Saturday that officials learned a cache of urgently needed personal protective equipment at a hospital in the local island of Vieques that remains closed because the Category 4 storm hit the U.S. territory in September 2017.
He said the gear includes face masks, gloves, gowns and face shields that were in good shape and would be distributed to health institutions.
"They're very useful currently," said González, who became the island's newest health secretary this week, the third in the span of fourteen days.
He also said officials recently located a warehouse with medicine and medical equipment worth $4 million donated during Hurricane Maria, and that nearly all of it had expired. He did not provide information regarding what specific items were found.
Puerto Rico has reported 18 deaths related to COVID-19, including that of a nurse, and more than 450 confirmed cases, including several cops who join health employees in demanding more personal protective equipment.
"Police are going the excess mile at this time, and the government isn't protecting us enjoy it should," said Gregorio Matías, vice president of a police union.
The discovery in Vieques outraged many on an island still struggling to recuperate from Maria and from a series of strong earthquakes that hit Puerto Rico's southern region lately.
González said he has ordered an investigation into why those supplies were abandoned in Vieques. The announcement comes two months after several Puerto Ricans learned and broke right into a warehouse filled up with emergency supplies in southern Puerto Rico at the same time local officials sought urgent help for all those damaged by a string of earthquakes. Other similar discoveries have been made since Maria hit.
González said the federal government still needs other equipment including testing kits and ventilators, noting that there are only 500 designed for an island of 3.2 million people with high rates of asthma.
"If that's likely to be the difference between life and death, persons are likely to die," he said. "Don't take this lightly."
A health care provider who leads a COVID-19 government task force has said the U.S. territory needs at least 3,000 ventilators with the anticipated peak in cases expected in early May. Puerto Rico is in the middle of per month long curfew that's among the strictest in virtually any U.S. jurisdiction and has shuttered non-essential businesses and banned persons from going outside unless they must buy food, medicine or go to the bank.
