in the hospital and put them in a store where they cannot be easily accessed we restricted access and we are tracking the amount of n95 masks used so we will notice if someone hordes the supplies other hospitals say its business as usual we are still in influenza season we want our patients and visitors protecting others from respiratory illnesses as of today you are still far more likely to be exposed to influenza in a us hospital lobby than covid19dr oluyemi odugbesan an attending anesthesiologist a denver area hospital says that the hospital administration has also encouraged them reuse their mask the entire day ppe is paramount in preventing spread between those of us on the frontlines in healthcare and so it is concerning from that standpoint said odugbesan more public transportation shut down in wuhan city at center of coronavirus outbreak states and hospitals are working together to ensure that healthcare workers protection is not compromised the new york state department of health for example has already supplied hospitals across the state with n95 respirators and other ppe to help mitigate any supply shortages currently being realized due to covid19 according to jill montag new york state department of health spokesperson the department has created a stockpile of medical equipment over a decade ago and is monitoring all hospital capacities to ensure continuity of health care services chief of infectious disease dr ashwin jathavedam at new jersey englewood health says vigilance is key this isnt the first pandemic and wont be the last and everyone is working to be ready eden david whos studying neuroscience at columbia university and matriculating to medical school later this year is a contributor to the abc news medical unit angela baldwin melanie graber yalda safai and sony salzman contributed to this report this report was featured in the monday march 2 2020 episode of start here abc news daily news podcast start here offers a straightforward look at the days top stories in 20 minutes listen for free every weekday on apple podcasts google podcasts spotify the abc news app or wherever you get your podcasts