O.C. sold 100,000 medical-grade coronavirus masks, citing expiration dates

O.C. sold 100,000 medical-grade coronavirus masks, citing expiration dates

Despite the nurses call for more masks, the leader of a nurses’ rally in Orange on Friday, April 3, didn’t object to the county’s February move to unload the masks with deteriorating rubber straps. “When the strap is compromised, it doesn’t form the proper seal,” UCI Health Douglas Hospital nurse Maria Louviaux told reporters at the rally outside the hospital. “The only reason to use those is as a surgical mask.” Surgical masks do not provide the same level of protection as N95 masks. … Responding the nurses’ rally Friday calling for more access to the masks, the hospital issued a statement saying there was no shortage of N95 masks at the facility. But it acknowledged that access was restricted by using “a broad conservation effort … so they are available for health care workers who need it.”