Where to Buy Face Masks, Sanitizers, and Other P.P.E. Products

With the COVID-19 pandemic going on and reaching new crisis levels, it is crucial to know how to handle everyday chores and keep you and your family safe. Therefore, we continue our guidelines today with a short guide on where to buy face masks, sanitizers, gloves, and other supplies.

Before we begin, allow us to remind you that you can make face masks at home from non-woven tote bags or cotton tote bags. According to the C.D.C., wearing face covers made of cloth can ensure a certain level of protection for you, your family members, your neighbors, and other people you come in contact with when the circumstances do not allow the following of the social distancing regulations.

Also, if you plan to go to a pharmacy or a specialized store, remember to follow the guidelines of safe shopping during the pandemic.

If you are looking for masks, gloves, sanitizing solutions, and other supplies online, keep in mind the etiquette and safety protection measures of online shopping.

Buying Face Masks, Sanitizing Solution, and Other Supplies

As we all know, there is a current shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (P.P.E.), including face masks, sanitizing alcohol, hand-sanitizing gel, gloves, and so on. The stocks in almost all stores across the country are low (or even sold-out). Moreover, even pharmacies, hospitals, health centers, and clinics are now facing severe stock shortages.

With the social distancing and Shelter-in-Place rules currently in place, many people cannot go out to buy what they need in the absence of protective measures – even if it means daily groceries, medication, or necessary supplies.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the C.D.C. stated there was no need for us to wear protective masks or gloves when we went out of the house. However, the data changes by the minute. All agencies and authorities are continually updating their websites and policies, so make sure you stay updated as well.

Now, the Center for Disease Control and even the W.H.O. confirm that masks – albeit not the N95 type – are useful in protecting others and ourselves from spreading the virus. Moreover, research shows that hand sanitizers are helpful in our fight against the virus.

However, the question remains: how and where can you find masks, gloves, and hand sanitizers when the stocks are in the sold-out mode? What should you do when you cannot safely venture outside to visit all pharmacies, drug stores, and specialized shops to find some protective equipment?

Luckily for everybody, you have solutions at hand to buy face masks, hand sanitizers, and other supplies online. Keep in mind that the best course of action is to buy in bulk when you find stocks at certain suppliers.

What are the Advantages of Bulk-Buying Face Masks and P.P.E. Supplies?

One of the primary health precautions you must take, according to all agencies and health organizations, is to change the face mask you are wearing every 6 to 12 hours. Wearing the same mask over again will not help you in staying safe from the new Coronavirus. It will not help others preserve their health either.

In other words, you need to have a hefty supply of face masks until the crisis is over, and we can go about our lives again. A worn-out cover allows the virus cells (about a thousand times smaller than a person’s blood cells) to slip through the used fabric and spread around.

Buying masks, hand sanitizer, sanitizing alcohol, gloves, and other P.P.E. equipment will spare you the panic of running out of stocks and the troubles you have to face in finding new items to replenish your medicine cabinet in the house.

Another great advantage of buying in bulk is the price. The practice is available when you purchase anything in bulk, as the costs for packages and sets are lower in comparison to the price tag of an individual product. Given the fact that this pandemic is challenging the global economy, saving money on supplies – no matter their kind – is the sensible thing to do.

If you think about buying in bulk, you cannot ignore the benefit of having one single delivery bringing your P.P.E. supplies instead of multiple, frequent deliveries during the upcoming weeks or even months. As we said on a previous occasion, your couriers and deliverers are the unsung heroes of these times, putting their health on the line to bring you food, goods, and other items. It is the sensible way to go about online shopping and orders these days.

Instead of having different deliverers, bringing you a few pairs of gloves and a handful of masks every week, you should consider stocking and save you and your courier some trouble.

The problem with bulk shopping of P.P.E. items is, however, how many you should buy. At the beginning of the pandemic, one issue was (and still is) the over-stocking, hoarding, and stockpiling of food and toiletries. Is it OK to overstock on face masks, bottles of hand sanitizers, gloves, and other protective items?

To Stock or Not to Stock and How Much Should You Buy?

At the date of this guideline, health experts cannot make proof-based claims regarding how long the COVID-19 pandemic will last. Some professional estimations, nevertheless, coin the length of this global health crisis to half a year, give or take. It means we won’t be out of the woods yet even if we witness the curve flattening of spreading.

Now that we reached this point, it is time for you to do some math to make sure you have all the necessary supplies of protective equipment without stockpiling and ruining others’ chances of finding supplies for their families and themselves as well.

• Count the family members in your family that need P.P.E. equipment;
• Consider stocking for the next six months;
• Take into account the situations requiring disposable P.P.E. equipment per week or month.

Example

If a person goes out of the house only once a week for a two-hours grocery shopping run, that person might need four or five disposable protective masks during a month, together with four or five pairs of gloves.

Starting from this example, calculate how much hand sanitizer you need, together with sanitizing alcohol, and other supplies for your family, depending on the daily situations that require you to wear masks and other protective items.

As a note, keep in mind that your health is not the department warranting harsh money savings. P.P.E. items may not come cheap, but you will save some money by buying in bulk. Health does not come with a price tag, and you cannot have too much safety equipment during a pandemic. Just make sure you don’t leave the vulnerable population out of anything to buy for safety.

If you got too many P.P.E. items and you do not use them, don’t let them expire in a cabinet somewhere in the house. And, by all means, do not throw them away.

• Donate face masks, alcohol, and hand sanitizers to family, neighbors, the school in your neighborhood, first responders, health clinics, animal shelters, and so on.
• Do not go outside if not necessary. Many hospitals, public entities, and agencies are accepting donations under specific sets of regulations, so contact them and tell them about your spare stocks. They will find the proper means to enter in your stock’s possession.

Getting the Best P.P.E. Items

Check out the online stores and suppliers for reliable and quality face masks, gloves, alcohol, hand sanitizing gel, and other P.P.E. supplies. Buying in bulk is the safest option you have right now! Feel free to contact us for questions, details, or further information.