Help Us Supply KN95 Masks to Bay Area Hospitals
Donation protected
Updated December 30th, 2020 (see Updates section below)
Bay Area hospitals don't have enough N95 respirator masks to deal with the impending surge of Covid-19 patients. Our hospitals are having difficulties obtaining large quantities of N95 masks from overseas in time due to numerous bureaucratic and logistical obstacles (see these articles in The New York Times and Forbes ). Whatever plans in the pipeline to manufacture or source N95 masks within the US will not alleviate the shortage in time for Bay Area hospitals, which are next in the line of fire after New York.
We have obtained a shipment of 4,500 Chinese-made N95 masks (known as KN95) which are already in the Bay Area, and need funds to immediately purchase them to donate them for free to Bay Area hospitals. The unit cost is $2.45 per mask inclusive of taxes and air freight.
The total cost is $11,400 for all 4,500 KN95 masks (including donation payment processing fees) but any donation amount will help us because we will immediately distribute these masks in smaller batches as funds become available. Even a $25 contribution will fund 10 N95 masks which will keep one doctor or nurse safe for a day while they save lives.
Previously, we and a few other private donors had already purchased and donated 6,480 of these KN95 masks to local hospitals (see photos). We need your help to fund the remaining 4,500 N95 masks for distribution.
Details:
1. Why are N95 masks critically needed?
Doctors and nurses have a much higher than normal risk of getting severely ill and dying with Covid-19 despite their younger age (see this CNN article ). They are exposed to high concentrations of virus (viral load) for extended periods of time and need the protection of these specialized N95 masks, each of which has a lifespan measured in hours. If our doctors and nurses start succumbing to Covid-19 due to the lack of protective equipment, an Italy-style collapse of our healthcare system is inevitable and fatality rates will skyrocket.
2. Why is time of the essence? Aren't we already "flattening the curve"?
The Bay Area's shelter in place mandate has bought us precious time but we are likely 2 weeks away before our hospitals become inundated by Covid-19 patients. Even after the Chinese city of Wuhan (population 11+ million, greater than the Bay Area) was completely locked down on January 22nd when there were fewer than 500 cases, Covid-19 cases continued to climb exponentially before plateauing at over 50,000 cases. We can't be lulled into a sense of complacency, there is nothing to indicate that our experience will be any different from New York, Italy, Spain or Wuhan.
3. Are these masks legitimate?
These are Chinese-sourced N95 masks (known as KN95) adhering to China's GB 2626-2006 standards. KN95 masks are accepted for use in US hospitals by both the CDC and the FDA.
4. Are you making a profit?
We are not making a dime, nor are we taking masks for personal use. We are fortunate enough to still be employed and feel that this is the best way to support doctors and nurses who are putting their lives on the line for all of us.
5. How do you decide which hospitals get these masks?
There is no single centralized authority in the Bay Area that tracks inventories and prioritizes the hospitals that need supplies the most. Hence we have been prioritizing Bay Area counties by both the Covid19 case counts and the rate of their increase, and relying on our network of doctors & nurses throughout the bay area to decide which hospitals are in dire need at that point in time. If you know of a hospital in dire need, please let us know via the "Contact" button below.
6. Which Bay Area hospitals have you donated to?
To date, we have donated KN95 masks to the following hospitals (see photos below):
* Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Oakland: 1,000 masks
* Highland Hospital (Alameda County Hospital): 1,000 masks - in equal partnership with the Chinese Community of SF
* Kaiser San Francisco: 1,250 masks
* Kaiser South San Francisco: 980 masks
* Kaiser Union City: 300 masks
* Santa Clara Valley Medical Center: 4,600 masks
* Zuckerberg SF General Hospital : 1,250 masks
In addition, we have also donated 1,000 masks to NYU Langone Hospital in New York City, the current epicenter of Covid-19 in the US. A smaller number of masks have also been distributed to smaller hospitals in the Bay Area which didn't have a ready supply of masks.
Thank You and Stay Safe!
Rudy Tan, Digital Design Engineer, Facebook (LinkedIn)
Cindy Yu, Managing Director, StoneTurn (LinkedIn)
_____________________________________________________________
UPDATES
Update for December 30th, 2020:
1. Our volunteer delivered a shipment of 600 KN95 masks and 140 surgical masks to Santa Clara Valley Medical Foundation in San Jose.
Update for April 17th, 2020:
1. The last batch of 500 masks was split equally and donated to Zuckerberg SF General Hospital (see photo below) and Kaiser San Francisco.
Update for April 15th, 2020:
1. We have reached our funding goal! Thank you everyone who donated and helped us reach this goal. After we distribute our last batch of masks, we will send a final update.
2. Due to the dire situation in New York, On April 6th, we decided to try to send an air shipment of 1,000 KN95 masks to a contact at NYU Langone Hospital in New York City. Due to the heavy congestion in air shipping routes, these masks finally arrived on April 13th, and were accepted for use by NYU Langone on April 14th.
Update for April 9th, 2020:
1. Our volunteer delivered a shipment of KN95 masks to Highland Hospital (Alameda County Hospital) in the East Bay. Highland Hospital is one of the few public hospitals in the Bay Area and provides care to the disenfranchised. Today's donations were funded in equal partnership with the Chinese Community of San Francisco.
Update for April 8th, 2020:
1. A shipment of KN95 masks was donated to Santa Clara Valley Medical Foundation in San Jose (see photo below). The Santa Clara Valley Medical Foundation supplies Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, St Louise Hospital in Morgan Hills, and homeless shelters as well as jails in Santa Clara County. Since most of their patients are poor, they are always looking for donations.
Update for April 6th, 2020:
1. We have had to increase the donation target because we didn't factor in the per-transaction fees charged by payment processors like PayPal & WePay.
2. Today, a volunteer dropped off a shipment of KN95 masks to Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland (see photo below). Alta Bates Oakland is the central distribution point for all 3 Alta Bates facilities. In addition, a smaller shipment of KN95 masks were also donated to Kaiser Union City.
_____________________________________________________________
VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION
We want to thank our brave and hardworking volunteers who are delivering these donations to hospitals in the midst of a pandemic. In alphabetical order they are:
Ka-Ping Yee
Mark Riehl
_____________________________________________________________
PREVIOUS DONOR APPRECIATION
We would like to thank these and several other unnamed donors who contributed to the previous batch of 6,480 KN95 masks. In alphabetical order they are:
Bob Carasik
Clarke Watson & Alanna Chan ($264)
Katherine Huang & Andrew James ($500)
Melissa Tan, Alex Schleifer, Garth Webb & Jen Murse
Bay Area hospitals don't have enough N95 respirator masks to deal with the impending surge of Covid-19 patients. Our hospitals are having difficulties obtaining large quantities of N95 masks from overseas in time due to numerous bureaucratic and logistical obstacles (see these articles in The New York Times and Forbes ). Whatever plans in the pipeline to manufacture or source N95 masks within the US will not alleviate the shortage in time for Bay Area hospitals, which are next in the line of fire after New York.
We have obtained a shipment of 4,500 Chinese-made N95 masks (known as KN95) which are already in the Bay Area, and need funds to immediately purchase them to donate them for free to Bay Area hospitals. The unit cost is $2.45 per mask inclusive of taxes and air freight.
The total cost is $11,400 for all 4,500 KN95 masks (including donation payment processing fees) but any donation amount will help us because we will immediately distribute these masks in smaller batches as funds become available. Even a $25 contribution will fund 10 N95 masks which will keep one doctor or nurse safe for a day while they save lives.
Previously, we and a few other private donors had already purchased and donated 6,480 of these KN95 masks to local hospitals (see photos). We need your help to fund the remaining 4,500 N95 masks for distribution.
Details:
1. Why are N95 masks critically needed?
Doctors and nurses have a much higher than normal risk of getting severely ill and dying with Covid-19 despite their younger age (see this CNN article ). They are exposed to high concentrations of virus (viral load) for extended periods of time and need the protection of these specialized N95 masks, each of which has a lifespan measured in hours. If our doctors and nurses start succumbing to Covid-19 due to the lack of protective equipment, an Italy-style collapse of our healthcare system is inevitable and fatality rates will skyrocket.
2. Why is time of the essence? Aren't we already "flattening the curve"?
The Bay Area's shelter in place mandate has bought us precious time but we are likely 2 weeks away before our hospitals become inundated by Covid-19 patients. Even after the Chinese city of Wuhan (population 11+ million, greater than the Bay Area) was completely locked down on January 22nd when there were fewer than 500 cases, Covid-19 cases continued to climb exponentially before plateauing at over 50,000 cases. We can't be lulled into a sense of complacency, there is nothing to indicate that our experience will be any different from New York, Italy, Spain or Wuhan.
3. Are these masks legitimate?
These are Chinese-sourced N95 masks (known as KN95) adhering to China's GB 2626-2006 standards. KN95 masks are accepted for use in US hospitals by both the CDC and the FDA.
4. Are you making a profit?
We are not making a dime, nor are we taking masks for personal use. We are fortunate enough to still be employed and feel that this is the best way to support doctors and nurses who are putting their lives on the line for all of us.
5. How do you decide which hospitals get these masks?
There is no single centralized authority in the Bay Area that tracks inventories and prioritizes the hospitals that need supplies the most. Hence we have been prioritizing Bay Area counties by both the Covid19 case counts and the rate of their increase, and relying on our network of doctors & nurses throughout the bay area to decide which hospitals are in dire need at that point in time. If you know of a hospital in dire need, please let us know via the "Contact" button below.
6. Which Bay Area hospitals have you donated to?
To date, we have donated KN95 masks to the following hospitals (see photos below):
* Alta Bates Summit Medical Center Oakland: 1,000 masks
* Highland Hospital (Alameda County Hospital): 1,000 masks - in equal partnership with the Chinese Community of SF
* Kaiser San Francisco: 1,250 masks
* Kaiser South San Francisco: 980 masks
* Kaiser Union City: 300 masks
* Santa Clara Valley Medical Center: 4,600 masks
* Zuckerberg SF General Hospital : 1,250 masks
In addition, we have also donated 1,000 masks to NYU Langone Hospital in New York City, the current epicenter of Covid-19 in the US. A smaller number of masks have also been distributed to smaller hospitals in the Bay Area which didn't have a ready supply of masks.
Thank You and Stay Safe!
Rudy Tan, Digital Design Engineer, Facebook (LinkedIn)
Cindy Yu, Managing Director, StoneTurn (LinkedIn)
_____________________________________________________________
UPDATES
Update for December 30th, 2020:
1. Our volunteer delivered a shipment of 600 KN95 masks and 140 surgical masks to Santa Clara Valley Medical Foundation in San Jose.
Update for April 17th, 2020:
1. The last batch of 500 masks was split equally and donated to Zuckerberg SF General Hospital (see photo below) and Kaiser San Francisco.
Update for April 15th, 2020:
1. We have reached our funding goal! Thank you everyone who donated and helped us reach this goal. After we distribute our last batch of masks, we will send a final update.
2. Due to the dire situation in New York, On April 6th, we decided to try to send an air shipment of 1,000 KN95 masks to a contact at NYU Langone Hospital in New York City. Due to the heavy congestion in air shipping routes, these masks finally arrived on April 13th, and were accepted for use by NYU Langone on April 14th.
Update for April 9th, 2020:
1. Our volunteer delivered a shipment of KN95 masks to Highland Hospital (Alameda County Hospital) in the East Bay. Highland Hospital is one of the few public hospitals in the Bay Area and provides care to the disenfranchised. Today's donations were funded in equal partnership with the Chinese Community of San Francisco.
Update for April 8th, 2020:
1. A shipment of KN95 masks was donated to Santa Clara Valley Medical Foundation in San Jose (see photo below). The Santa Clara Valley Medical Foundation supplies Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, St Louise Hospital in Morgan Hills, and homeless shelters as well as jails in Santa Clara County. Since most of their patients are poor, they are always looking for donations.
Update for April 6th, 2020:
1. We have had to increase the donation target because we didn't factor in the per-transaction fees charged by payment processors like PayPal & WePay.
2. Today, a volunteer dropped off a shipment of KN95 masks to Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland (see photo below). Alta Bates Oakland is the central distribution point for all 3 Alta Bates facilities. In addition, a smaller shipment of KN95 masks were also donated to Kaiser Union City.
_____________________________________________________________
VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION
We want to thank our brave and hardworking volunteers who are delivering these donations to hospitals in the midst of a pandemic. In alphabetical order they are:
Ka-Ping Yee
Mark Riehl
_____________________________________________________________
PREVIOUS DONOR APPRECIATION
We would like to thank these and several other unnamed donors who contributed to the previous batch of 6,480 KN95 masks. In alphabetical order they are:
Bob Carasik
Clarke Watson & Alanna Chan ($264)
Katherine Huang & Andrew James ($500)
Melissa Tan, Alex Schleifer, Garth Webb & Jen Murse
Organizer
Rudy Tan
Organizer
San Francisco, CA