City to distribute thousands of PPE to community-based medical providers

The city will up supplies of personal protective equipment to over 1,000 community-based medical providers across 26 neighborhoods that have been the hardest hit by the novel coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday.

“Some of them literally couldn’t do their work, couldn’t keep their flanks open because of lack of [PPE],” said de Blasio.

“This is crucial to protecting the good folks who work in these plants but also allowing them to do their work and reach more people.”

The city will distribute 120,000 surgical masks and 115,000 pairs of gloves a week. De Blasio added that city agencies will work to increase train 150 community-based clinics who have struggled with being short-staffed during the novel coronavirus crisis on how to be proficient in telemedicine.

“They know their patients. They know the people that they have long-term relationships with, but they do not historically use telemedicine as a crucial tool,” said de Blasio. “We are going to help them now do that more and more.”

De Blasio added that he wanted to see these same clinics play a crucial role in the city’s test and trace initiative stating that by next week his office would know “what each one can contribute to the test and trace effort.”

“I want to bring them into it deeply,” de Blasio added.

The city will distribute extra personal protective equipment to the following neighborhoods:

Brooklyn: