Arizona hospitals aren't facing the peak of COVID-19 cases yet, and masks remain in short supply.

Health care workers are repeatedly reusing masks and struggling to find places to order them as supplies around the world have dwindled.

One anesthesiologist has been tasked with finding personal protective equipment for his team and said he is now reaching the point of begging for anyone to donate whatever N95 masks they have on hand.

Scott Sher, the regional medical director for Valley Anesthesiology Consultants, posted a plea for more masks on social media this week, calling N95 masks "perhaps the most important tool that we as physicians and nurses have to help protect us while we care for the growing number of patients who have been stricken by COVID."

N95 masks keep out small particles more effectively than surgical masks or cloth face coverings. The 95 in the name means it keeps out 95% of particulates. They were designed in health care settings for diseases like tuberculosis, measles or chicken pox, which are spread by airborne droplets that are so small that they still could be breathed in through a regular surgical mask.

The surge in patients has not yet arrived, and hopefully social distancing efforts will help flatten the curve. But in the meantime, Sher and his teams are working to prepare by setting up intubation teams and trying to find enough protective equipment.

"It's like putting up the sandbags for the invasion. You know, we could use some reinforcements," he said.

Sher's group of anesthesiologists works at hospitals throughout the Valley. These hospitals are slowly accumulating COVID-19 patients, although the peak is likely a couple of weeks away, he said. Preparations are underway for intensive care unit teams.

When COVID-19 patients need to be intubated, health care workers like anesthesiologists are in a very high-risk situation, Sher said.

"So the masks that we probably use the most are these in N95, and they have become globally a commodity," Sher said. "So, Valley Anesthesia, all of our hospital partners in Arizona and all the hospitals in the United States and globally, everyone is short on these. They're in incredibly short supply."

Health care workers have gone from using masks once, to using one a day to sterilizing them and using them repeatedly, he said.

"We're running out of equipment, even ahead of the surge," he said. "So before we really get to the bulk of the patients, we're concerned that we're rationing this equipment."

Getting the proper equipment will help clinicians stay healthy and continue to care for COVID-19 patients, he said.

"Physicians in our group have already gone positive," he said. "When people get sick from this, sometimes they die. Sometimes they're out of the game for quite a while and can't care for anyone."

Sher is trying to secure personal protective equipment for Valley Anesthesiology Consultants. The idea is, if his teams can equip themselves, it will ease the burden on hospitals, which are also short on protective equipment.

He's scoured the internet, trying to find N95 masks to order. But he's encountered price gouging and fraud. Some places say they're selling N95 masks when the masks are clearly not up to that standard, he said. Others are charging far more than the standard price.

"It's gotten to the point that you're just like climbing through the weeds here, trying to find legitimate sources for PPE," he said.

He posted his plea on Facebook April 7, asking people to contact him at scottslinux@gmail.com. After his post on Facebook, which was shared more than 300 times, he's received a few small donations of masks. But it's not enough.

"It's really nice that people are reaching out and donating this equipment to us, but what we're really looking for is some kind of a corporate champion to help us," he said. "It doesn't even have to be a donation. All we need is someone who can help us purchase the masks."

Arizona, along with the federal government, is now recommending people wear masks when they're in public. Health officials made clear that the public should be wearing cloth, nonmedical masks for this purpose.

But, Sher said, it's frustrating to see people at grocery stores or in the news on television wearing N95 masks when a cloth mask is adequate for the general public and there's a shortage of masks for health professionals. People may have ordered them ahead of time or had them in their garage because they use them for home projects. But, with the shortages of personal protective equipment, they should now be donating them to health care workers, he said.

"That's a big part of the problem," he said. "There's no reason to be wearing an N95 mask unless you're caring for these patients. It's just millions of masks being wasted, just because people are not informed."

Arizona hospitals and health systems also are accepting donations of PPE such as gowns, gloves, goggles, hand sanitizer and masks.

In addition, the state hospital association operates the Arizona Coalition for Healthcare Emergency Response, or azcher.org. The program has not been widely publicized, but it can connect donors and recipients in need of supplies.

Reporter Stephanie Innes contributed to this story.

Reach reporter Rachel Leingang by email at rachel.leingang@gannett.com or by phone at 602-444-8157, or find her on Twitter and Facebook.

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