Surgical masks are in short supply at Massachusetts pharmacies as customers cleared them from store shelves in response to the coronavirus that many fear is spreading to the U.S. from its point of origin in Wuhan, China.
“I’ve gotten phone calls of people who want to buy them,” Gail Bray, a cashier at Gary Drug on Beacon Hill, said. “I tell them there may be 10-20 in the box, so they buy a box and share with their friends, so they’re sharing it, they’re not just hoarding it.”
Bray attributed the uptick in sales to the virus outbreak, despite no cases near Boston.
“Sometimes that does happen when there's a panic going,” Bray said.
National drug store chains, such as CVS Pharmacy — headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island — have not been immune to the sweep either, with spokeswoman Stephanie Cunha confirming the demand shortages to WGBH News, saying they expect to “re-supply those stores as quickly as possible.”
Health officials from the state and the City of Boston said that wearing a surgical mask is one of the best defenses against the virus during a press conference Monday afternoon where they announced that no cases had yet appeared in Massachusetts since the outbreak began.
Elias Miller contributed to this report.
