SLO County hospitals: Please stop stealing our masks and hand sanitizer
Dignity Health Central Coast has a message for San Luis Obispo County right now: Stop stealing our masks and hand sanitizers.
According to external communications manager Sara San Juan, Dignity Health hospitals on the Central Coast are having a problem with people taking masks and hand sanitizers as worry over the coronavirus pandemic continues.
“Members of the public have been unnecessarily removing these items from our facilities and the items are there for the health and safety of our patients,” San Juan wrote in an email to media Wednesday morning. “Taking critical hospital supplies is stealing from the patients we are working diligently to care for.”
The problem is happening at all three of Dignity Health’s local hospitals, San Juan said. They are Arroyo Grande Community Hospital and French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo County, and Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria.
Megan Maloney, communications and marketing director for Dignity Health, told The Tribune that people have been “running into hospitals and stealing masks and hand sanitizers, or ripping them off the walls.”
“Right now we are under the very unfortunate circumstance of seeing the ugly side of our community,” she said. “The panic —that’s kind of the ugly side of this.”
The run on supplies is likely due to the fact that both of those items — hand sanitizers especially — have been missing or hard to come by on San Luis Obispo County shelves for close to two weeks.
The shortage is fueled in part by recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control that hand sanitizer was among the top defenses against catching and spreading the virus.
In the case of the masks, Maloney added that people are stealing items that will not necessarily prevent them from catching coronavirus.
“Masks are not going to prevent you from getting sick, they are going to prevent you from getting others sick,” she said. “So that is a false sense of security.”
Maloney also advised people that though hand sanitizers can prevent the spread of germs, the No. 1 protection against coronavirus at this time is washing your hands with soap and water.
To date, San Luis Obispo County has six confirmed cases of coronavirus, with the number expected to increase over the coming days.
Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Older adults and individuals with underlying medical conditions are particularly vulnerable to the virus.
Health officials urge those who exhibit these symptoms to stay home, avoid contact with others, and call their health care provider or urgent care clinic before seeking medical care to receive safe arrival instructions, if directed to do so. Go to the emergency room only if you are experiencing a medical emergency.
Visit ReadySLO.org for the latest public health updates and recommendations or call the Public Health information line at 805-788-2903.
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 12:38 PM.
