Hurricane Helene disrupts vital supplies

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 31st of October.

You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today! Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

First up on The World and Everything in It: Supply shortages.

Millions of Americans on the East Coast felt the effects of Hurricane Helene, and the storm caused shortages of things like food and water for days after the storm hit, but other damage is being felt across the country.

REICHARD: That’s due to flooding of a major IV fluid manufacturer and supplier to the semiconductor industry. It could take months for normal operations to resume.

WORLD’s Mary Muncy reports.

MARY MUNCY: As an anesthesiologist, Dr. Patricia Mack places a lot of IVs.

MACK: I work at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital.

She’s also a chair of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. But since Hurricane Helene hit last month, she’s taken on a new responsibility, making a limited supply of IV fluid last.

Mack has been getting weekly updates from Baxter Healthcare’s North Cove facility in North Carolina. Before the hurricane, the plant produced about 60 percent of the nation’s IV fluids, but it was flooded during Hurricane Helene. Now, hospitals like Mack’s are having to think carefully about how they use a reduced supply.

MACK: If we normally get 1000 bags of IV fluid, we are now allowed to get 400 bags.

So far, New York Presbyterian Hospital hasn’t had to cancel any procedures, but others have while they take stock of the fluids they have on hand and figure out how to get more.

Mack thinks for the most part, patients haven’t noticed the shortage, but medical professionals are doing what they can to make sure no IV bag goes to waste.

MACK: Anesthesiologists always like to be really prepared and ready for any eventuality. So there is some redundancy in how we set up for patient care.

But now, staff are looking for unobtrusive ways to conserve. Previously, Mack says she might have prepared two IV lines,even if she was pretty sure the patient would only need one. Not anymore.

MACK: Most of our conservation efforts are focused on on that area of preparation. We're not placing that second IV bag until it's necessary.

In other parts of the hospital, some ER nurses say that if a paramedic brings in a patient with an IV bag already started, instead of removing it and starting their own like they normally would They keep the old one going until it’s empty.

And hospitals across the country are doing the same. Texas is one of the only states Mack has heard of that has a stockpile of IV fluid.

MACK: It doesn't have that long a shelf life. And it's actually very bulky, so it takes up a lot of space.

Instead, the federal government has issued emergency measures and has started the process of importing and testing IV fluid from other countries.

MACK: As the shortage continues, we're getting more creative and thinking about other procedures that might not really need IV fluids at all, and focusing on giving oral rehydration to patients.

But IV fluid isn’t the only resource slowed down by the storm.

MANJEE: This is an incredibly important area for the world and for everything that we really use and operate on a daily basis.

Bhavin Manjee is a partner at supply chain consulting firm Simon-Kucher. He specializes in semiconductors—a tiny piece of technology that conducts electricity. They’re in everything from your cellphone, to airplanes, to weapons.

A key material in making the silicon for them is high grade quartz and Helene damaged two quarries in Spruce Pine, North Carolina where the purest quartz in the world is mined.

MANJEE: About 90 percent, by most estimates, of the world supply of this high-purity quartz is sourced from this area.

For right now, the tech industry is relying on existing stockpiles, so there hasn’t been a slowdown yet. Manjee says there’s probably enough for three to eight months.

MANJEE: It's maybe, you know, ten in total, areas in the world where you can source this stuff. None of them have the same degree of purity that is sourced from the Spruce Pine region.

Spruce Pine is at the very front of the semiconductor supply chain, so if the reserves run out, Manjee says we could see manufacturing lines stop across a range of products.

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shortage, auto manufacturers had to stop production because they couldn’t get enough semiconductors.

MANJEE: In the short term, we do have a little bit of a buffer, but in the intermediate and the long term, you know, there really is no other source for silicon that could reasonably be put online.

If the reserves do run out, manufacturers would have to start triaging silicon—sending it first to the most necessary industries like defense. Manjee says consumer electronics would probably be the first thing affected, slowing or stopping production, and that could raise prices.

MANJEE: The one thing about the semiconductor industry I'll say is that it is notoriously vulnerable to supply chain risk

But as of last week, both of the biggest mines in Spruce Pine had come online in a limited capacity, and they expect to be fully operational soon.

Back at Baxter Healthcare’s North Cove facility, the hurricane damaged the road into the plant and left mud and debris in some of its buildings.

The company says they now have a temporary bridge allowing some product in and out of the plant, and employees are able to return to work. They’re currently working with contractors to get the plant up and running again.

Baxter hasn’t said when they will be back to normal operations but they're hoping by the end of the year.

And that’s good news for anesthesiologist Dr. Mack.

MACK: I hope that we've seen the worst of it. It might get a little bit worse before it gets better, but I think that everybody is all in on making sure that patients are able to get the care that they need in a timely fashion.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

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