Why are N95 masks even AVAILABLE to the general public if hospitals are short?

What the hell? What about the Defence Production Act? Hasn't that already been used to force certain factories to be used for production?

 

Yup. And some companies came forward without the prodding, like Fruit of the Loom.

But production still has not met demand.

There is now a vast oversupply of ventilators, however, as the experts have continually had to reduce their guesses towards reality.

 

My point is, that if the Defence Production Act has been used to force certain factories to be used for production, then how can it not be used to make sure that stores do not get N95 masks to sell to the public?

 

It's easy to find a factory and lay down the law. More difficult to find all the small mom & pops and websites that cater to hospital and clinic staff throughout a large country, and even if you lay down the law it's even more difficult to enforce it. If I walked in wearing scrubs I could probably buy N95 now. But I wouldn't. I use bandanas. I'm not walking point in a corona dying ward. Just like I would never in my life have been caught dead with more than one package of TP in a grocery cart. People would have thought I had the walkin' shets.

 

Well if they were specifically catering to hospital and clinical staff, then there would be no problem would there?

 

I'm not going out to see if local retail shops have any.

Uline says they're out until June. Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart don't have them.

Some other sites will take a back order with possible 12 week delivery.

nyccriminalattorneys.com offers to help people find and purchase the N-95 now, plus treat you like family they say.

The demand is MASSIVE, probably 1000X what it was in 2019. Eventually the supply should be there for everybody if there is profit in it. Money makes the world go 'round.

 

And one of the means she can get it through private retailers because privatization of medical care is a good thing.

 

FEMA has not answered that. Nor has Trump.

The question HAS been asked over and over again.

Trump DID start rapid acquisition of masks for use by executive branch employees at a time when he publicly stated it wasn't necessary. But, that can't account for the number of masks FEMA has stolen.

FEMA says many of the masks they take are given to commercial outlets that then sell them on the open market.

But, there is no explanation concerning what they think that accomplishes.

 

These accusations include that the CCP actually took part in some way that amounts to an attack on America.

There is no evidence of that.

I'll accept that.

But, blaming this vrus on China is absolutely unacceptable. And, though their response was far from perfect, our own response has been at least as bad, as WE got the information which China had to spend the time to figure out what was going on in Wuhan - a disease that looks a lot like flu, but gets worse had to be noticed and identified. That takes time.

Nobody believes COVID came from that fish market. That was an early suspicion that turned out to be false.

Today, medical investigation leads to bats.

 

That's why I have a few on hand. I do a lot of home carpentry from time to time. But a friend of ours makes masks out of microfiber blankets cut into strips and then folded over with scrunchie loops sewn into them . . . and in comparison with my commercially produced mask, they work just fine. They are also washable.

 

Yes, but to simply blame China is not in itself a conspiracy theory.

Sorry, are you completely unaware of the arrest of the Chinese doctor who first discovered it?

You mean the WET market? If so, then literally EVERYBODY (other than you) believes that this is the most likely point of origin.

Yes, which are a popular item for sale at these wet markets.

 

How do you know that?

Isn't this just called a supply chain?

 

~ So if any of you are seriously concerned about protecting yourself and those around you this is actually what works. Much more comfortable too ...
( use with mask if desired )

 

Andrew Cuomo, governor of NY, Friday press conference:

“You want to talk about lessons learned?” he said. “We need masks, they’re made in China; we need gowns, they’re made in China; we need face shields, they’re made in China; we need ventilators, they’re made in China.”

Cuomo expressed relief that most of their immediate equipment needs had finally been met but noted that much needed chemical agents for testing were also made in China.

“No one has the chemicals because everyone’s been overrun with demand, and the chemicals come out of where? China, where everything has come from the last 40 days,” he said.

The West must separate itself from China in ALL manufacturing aspects, and do its own manufacturing.

Globalism and bowing to Chiner has been a fifty year bad idea.

 

Blame implies that China did something wrong. And, many of these accusatios suggest that China committed these wrongs on purpose.

Yes. China arrested a doctor. There were others China ousted as well - those who had not properly reported their findings. That is clear evidence that the CCP was opposed to the hiding of information that many accuse the CCP of facilittating.

That's not true of the scientific community that is working on where this virus came from.

The market in question is open. And, the reason is that there isn't evidence that it came from the market.

The leading contender right now is that it entered the human population from bats, not the fish market.

Wet market just means that animals are sold.

The market in question sells fish.

 

Absolutely NOT.

A supply chain involves manufacturers distributors and customers. It does NOT include FEMA interdicting delivery of itmes that have been purchased.

Let's say you buy some prescription from an on-line durg store and your delivery just never shows up. You try to trace it, but you can't find out what happened. The drug store has records of having sent your order.

Then you hear that FEMA has been intercepting deliveries of drugs such as yours. THAT is what is happening.

 

That person isn't wearing a face mask - the face guard is important, but it doesn't remove the need for a mask.

Also, PPE includes gloves and body covering that are disposable and secure against viruses.

These products are made so that they may be discarded as one moves from patient to patient to prevent cross contamination. With COVID wards, medical workers are not able to do that, wearing the same protection for days at a time - far beyond what they were designed for.

Today, 10% to 20% of COVID deaths in America are among these healthcare workers who are risking their lives with insufficient protection.

They are being left without adequate protection and are receiving little concern from those who want to go ahead and increase their exposure by ending social isolation policy.

 

~ Cuomo may be the very first Democrat to realize president Trump's point - return to MADE IN USA.
Amazing .. .

 

Saying "made in America" isn't going to affect the business reality that products are made in China when that is how to maximize profit.

If Trump thought making PPE in America was important, he would have used the Defense Production Act to make PPE in America.

He didn't.

 

Trade with China has been an major economic positive for America.

We have been warned over and over concerning the risks of pandemic. The problem isn't products from China. The problem is ignoring the numerous warnings along with the needs we KNEW we would need. And, we've been unbelievably slow and disorganized in marshalling our resources and creating the required PPE, tests, etc.

Let's remember that WHO created a working COVID19 test that had tested 450,000 people before the US had something that worked but was still only available in very small numbers.

I would take Cuomo's word for it (at least for now) that we don't have enough of specific chemicals, but that is certainly not the only thing that has slowed our testing.

Our federal government CAN work this problem. It's just that they have been monumentally underperforming compared to WHO and some other countries.

 

What I mean is, it is the supply chain in the current crisis! You do understand why FEMA would be distributing stuff to distributors, right? Are you saying that FEMA should be able to handle it directly to the customer?

 

Which they did. An opinion shared by people left and right.

Now THAT'S where the conspiracy theories come in - but ONLY here. Get it right!

I wonder if you can cite a source to back up your claim.

This is the market in Wuhan? I've never heard it being referred to anything other than 'wet market' which would imply that it sells more than just fish.

 

No. FEMA has been stealing masks that hospitals have already purchased.

They have NO excuse for interdicting the supply chain like that.

I'm saying that when a hospital buys PPE, FEMA should not steal it from them by interdicting the delivery.

As for the amount of PPE in the supply chain, Trump has the Defense Production Act to use to create more PPE. The problem is that he is not doing that.

Also, early on Trump was promoting sending our PPE to other countries - a nice gesture, I suppose. But, our medical personell are dying of COVID because they don't have adequate PPE.

All of this is coming because we had NO plan for pandemic, even though we've been warned over and over and over again. In fact the right wing now hates Bill Gates, because HE was warning the US of that, coming from his foundation's experience with communicable disease in places such as Africa.

Obama formed a group to answer that need for a plan. Trump disbanded that effort - leaving us with no plan. Since January, NO PLAN has existed.

 

But surely you acknowledge that they most likely did it to give it to hospitals in more need.

HOW would more PPE be made by using the DPA?

I hope that you're including the failure of all past administrations starting with at least Bush.

Why the hell would the right hate him for that?

I assume that you don't mean Obama and Trump personally, but rather their administrations.

 

The CCP did not work against the global health issue. The got rid of the local group that was not telling the CCP and the world what they were finding out. China gave us the COVID virus genome as soon as they figured it out.

Blaming China for having a virus cross from animals to humans within their borders is PREPOSTEROUS.

Beyond that, WE have been the feckless ones who have allowed the explosion in America, NOT CHINA. There is nothing China did that we haven't done on COVID19. In fact, China has been far more decisive - and successful.

That's only ONE place where conspiracy theories have come in.

Hannity, Rushbo, Trish Reagan, and many other right wingers LONG promoted the idea that COVID was a Democratic plot against Trump!!!

Fox STILL considers our nation's handling of this pandemic as an assault on Republicans.

There are several reputable news sources that have accurate timelines.

You can find out what they sell.

The POINT is that scientists tracking down the source of this virus do NOT believe the market had anything to do with it.

While it is not fully known, the leading theory is that it came from bats. However, it's not necessarily clear that the mutations facilitating attacking humans actually occurred in bats. Bats could be a vector.

Also what is known is that it was not easy to go through the steps of figuring out that the problem as a new viirus that could be transmitted between peopole with no sysmptoms and with the virulance to make it a serious issue plus then isolating the virus that cause it. That would have taken time to firgure out and it would have left many questions unanswered. Their local officials cause a delay, but the virus would already be spreading before anyone knew to look. When the CCP figured out what was happening, they did the right thing immediately.

Who is it that you really want to blame? Those who screwed up got punished before last December.

And, their delays were absolutely no worse than OUR delays.