Planet Apparel's Novel Solution Against Novel Coronavirus

Planet Apparel joined the fight against novel coronavirus by supplying San Diego County with bandanas to maximize the use of PPE for healthcare personnel on the frontlines of the pandemic.

As its first major buyer, San Diego County purchased a bulk order of bandanas as a proactive contingency plan to deal with the looming threat of medical facemask shortages as evidenced by reports in cities like New York and New Orleans. A purchase of 90,000 bandanas for approximately $97,000 was made last week on March 19 and was quickly received by the county on Tuesday, March 24.

Due to the severe lack of N95 respirator masks, surgical masks, and other personal protective equipment throughout the United States stop-gap measures and new recommendations were released by the CDC to deal with the rapidly expanding public health emergency. While the CDC updated their guidelines stating the use of bandanas as a "last resort", Planet Apparel offers bandanas to prolong the lifespan of an already depleted supply.

The bandanas from Planet Apparel are not a substitute for PPE but aid in the preservation and optimization of medical facemasks to wear over them as an added layer of protection for nurses, doctors and other medical professionals forced to reuse whatever masks they have on hand.

Owners Holly and Heather Treviño came up with this idea after seeing headlines where so many healthcare facilities and hospitals have had to stretch their supply. They saw they had a solution to assist healthcare workers with this immediate need to preserve the life of N95 and other medical masks.

"The people of San Diego Country are thinking outside of the box," Holly Treviño said. "They're making moves because as we know supplies are just going away so quickly."

Typically, facemasks are frequently changed out and disposed of to prevent contamination and transmission of viruses between patients. CDC guidelines now state under Contingency Capacity Strategies that implementing extended use of facemasks and limited reuse of facemasks are viable options. In more extreme cases their Crisis Capacity Strategies include the use of homemade masks as a last resort to be used with caution in combination with a face shield.

San Diego County previously reported that that they had enough masks for surge capacity and there wasn't a need for these guidelines to be implemented, but because of hoarding, the exponential increase of Covid-19 cases, and competition the national supply chain has been disrupted. Coupled with the slow federal response in medical supply distribution and reports of expired equipment from FEMA, this life-threatening situation has become even more dire.

Planet Apparel's bandanas are designed with this in mind. The polyester bandanas are more tightly woven and are less absorbent as opposed to cotton ones that soak up fluids from coughs and sneezes more easily. Depending on the situation, healthcare facilities could dispose of the bandanas after use or sanitize them in industrial washing machines so they can be reused along with their PPE.

Planet Apparel expects San Diego County to make additional orders as the pandemic rate increases, but they have also reached out to other government agencies in New York, Seattle, Dallas, and other crisis epicenters to offer their service. Different governing bodies have been thrown in a chaotic situation of having to compete with one another for supplies and Planet Apparel is helping to mitigate the problem with a creative solution.

Originally a screenprinting company, Planet Apparel expanded its business to include clothing establishing themselves as one of the largest producers of custom bandanas in the country.

Early on in the outbreak of coronavirus and state mandated orders for non-essential businesses to shutter, Planet Apparel implemented "work from home" procedures with a focus on keeping their employee's jobs and to make sure their employees were safe and secure.

"We are very proud to support our employees in that manner and not put them as risk as much as possible," said Heather Treviño.

That same care that's built in Planet Apparel's company culture is what they are now bringing to a wider clientele. They possess a large network of distributors and manufacturers across the country to help streamline deliveries to companies and medical facilities in other states in need.

By educating healthcare professionals and government officials they seek to show how their bandanas can be helpful during this pandemic in preserving mask supply and ensuring the safety of human life.

Bandanas can be purchased at Planet Apparel's Covid-19 Contingency Plan page: https://www.planetapparel.com/contingency-bandanas/