Shortages of masks and gloves that were common in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic have spread many other items needed at medical facilities in the United States, Reuters is reporting. The items in short supply range from exam tables and heart defibrillators to crutches and IV poles.
It can now take up to five months to get some types of exam tables, for instance, compared to three to six weeks before the pandemic, according to CME Corp., a distributor of medical equipment that handles over 2 million products, quoted by Reuters.
The shortfalls — which coincide with a hospital staffing squeeze that is forcing some facilities to ration treatment during the latest surge in COVID cases — are part of a larger supply-chain disruption that has snarled the movement of goods around the world in the wake of the pandemic. In many cases, U.S. producers are waiting for parts or finished goods produced overseas which are delayed or waiting in jammed seaports.
The auto industry is perhaps the most visible example of how shortages are slowing the economy and hitting consumers. Car lots outside many factories are filled with vehicles waiting for scarce computer chips.
And tight supplies mean higher prices, which has fueled fears of a new wave of prolonged inflation.
Even delivery of mundane items has been slowed. Portable plastic toilets — used in hospital rooms so patients don’t have to walk to the bathroom — now are back-ordered three to four months, Reuters said.
The news service said some backlogs are easing. Although the demand for large refrigeration cabinets for storing COVID-19 vaccines has caused a major backlog, delivery of smaller vaccine refrigerators, which are in demand now for doctor’s offices and pharmacies, are back to normal and can be shipped in five or 10 days.
