Westmoreland County worries about dwindling cache of protective gear

Shortages of personal protective equipment such as gowns and masks have become dire in Westmoreland County.

The county’s supply is dwindling as the number of coronavirus cases rises, infecting staff and residents at two or more local nursing homes, where supplies are desperately being sought, Public Safety Director Roland Mertz said Tuesday.

“I’m talking to nurses who are crying because they don’t know what they do next,” Mertz said.

Pennsylvania Health Department officials reported that, as of Tuesday, there are 177 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland, an increase of 20 from a day earlier. The county continues to have the second-highest caseload in Western Pennsylvania. No deaths related to the virus have been reported in the county.

Mertz said his primary focus over the last several days has been finding needed equipment for the county’s nursing homes. Ligonier Gardens issued a statement this week that eight residents and five staff members have tested positive for the virus. Officials at the Loyalhanna Care Center in Derry reported late last month that a resident had been diagnosed with covid-19.

Mertz declined to say if other local nursing homes have been infected. Westmoreland Manor, the county-owned nursing home, has so far seen no diagnosed cases, he said.

With personal protective equipment in short supply, the county shifted some of its shrinking stock to nursing homes in desperate need. Those facilities, hospitals and first responders are at the top of the list for supplies.

“They are the front lines,” Mertz said.

County officials last weekend issued a plea for donated supplies from the private sector.

Commissioner Sean Kertes said the county is trying to buy additional supplies.

“The county’s disaster declaration gives public safety the ability to order (supplies) before anything else,” Kertes said.

The shortages have resulted in fewer supplies for county workers at the courthouse and at other facilities.

The county’s Park Police, which provide security at all county buildings and properties, has some N95 masks to use where there is potential exposure to the coronavirus but has no other masks for its 40 officers, according to Chief Henry Fontana.

He and other officers worked the phones on Tuesday and secured two small boxes of dust masks from a local business, enough for each officer to have one face covering.

“Anything is better than nothing,” Fontana said.

Mertz said the county wants to ensure all county workers, especially those who deal directly with the public, have sufficient supplies but, with global shortages of equipment, the county is doing its best to find supplies.

“I have three of my staff in my emergency operations center working 12 hours a day searching for stuff to buy. It’s very difficult to find this still. I pray the market for it will open up,” Mertz said.