Frustrated and afraid about protective gear shortages, health workers are scouring for masks on their own

Health care workers across the country tell STAT they are grappling with new hospital restrictions on personal protective equipment like masks, which are in short supply at some hospitals at a time when the need for it is climbing. Those shortages are fueling fear and frustration among medical staffers who are worried about how they will protect themselves, their patients, and their own families.

“I don’t have any confidence [my hospital will be able to] to protect me. Which is not necessarily their fault; they can’t get the gear,” said Megan Sims, a critical care nurse who works in the emergency room of a Minnesota hospital.

In the U.S. and across the world, concern about the coronavirus and the disease it causes, Covid-19, has on global