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The US has 12 million N95 in stockpile, another 5 million N95 that expired. The US has 30 million surgical masks in stockpile. The US needs 300 million N95 ma
by Leary 7y ago
The US has 12 million N95 in stockpile, another 5 million N95 that expired.
The US has 30 million surgical masks in stockpile.
The US needs 300 million N95 masks for medical professionals. [1]
[1]
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/us-mulls-using-sweeping-powers-to-ramp-up-production-of-coronavirus-protective-gear.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/us-mulls-using-sweeping-powe...
Therefore it is rational for public health policy to reserve high quality masks for medical professionals, regardless of their effectiveness for the general public.
I wonder how many masks they can manufacture a week in this emergency.
- pkaye 7y agoThe only US mask manufacturer says his current maximum is 600k masks/day. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/15/coronavirus-mask-shortage-texas-manufacturing/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/15/coronavir...
- boulos 7y agoThey are not the only manufacturer. From the article: > Prestige Ameritech, the largest full-line domestic surgical mask manufacturer, was producing 600,000 masks each day but struggling to meet demand. Even if it’s true that they’re the single-largest manufacturer, they’re definitely not the only one.
- qiqitori 7y agoJapan's producing 100 million per day according to a couple articles I've read, e.g.: https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASN2W7QGVN2WULFA023.html https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASN2W7QGVN2WULFA023.html Another article suggests that this is three times as much as usual: https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/economy/20200228-OYT1T50288/ https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/economy/20200228-OYT1T50288/ Still not enough. :/
- vonmoltke 7y agoIn addition to what boulos said, this company makes surgical masks. N95 respirator masks are manufactured in the millions annually by 3M because they are used heavily in the trades. That said, I don't know where 3M manufactures them, so that supply could be disrupted.
- jvm_ 7y agoFoxconn (iphone maker in china) was re-tooling to produce them.
- Terretta 7y agoIf 80% of people who get this are fine, 20% aren’t fine. Some stats suggest 14% severe, 6% ICU. Someone’s going to have to be taking care of all these categories of severity. One scenario is home care, with only the severest cases transferred to a medical facility. In that scenario, the “general public” may need to be healthcare providers.
- _-___________-_ 7y agoWhere'd you get 80% from?
- adventured 7y agoMight be from this: "A total of 81% of cases in the JAMA study were classified as mild, meaning they did not result in pneumonia or resulted in only mild pneumonia. Fourteen percent of cases were severe (marked by difficulty breathing), and 5% were critical (respiratory failure, septic shock, and/or multiple organ dysfunction or failure)." http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/study-72000-covid-19-patients-finds-23-death-rate http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/02/study-720...
- _-___________-_ 7y agoThat's 81% of cases though. Cases are a much more restricted set than "people who get this". Many mild infections will never be noticed or recognised as a case.
- Reelin 7y agoThe JAMA study [1] is an excellent analysis. However, it in turn was quoting the Chinese CDC statistics dating to February 11th. That dataset is older, fairly small once split into various categories, and likely to heavily skew towards more severe cases given how overwhelmed and underprepared the health system (and everyone else) was early on. [1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762130 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762130
- im3w1l 7y ago
- dawnerd 7y agoI've seen a lot of people suggest not buying the masks when they're in stock at hardware stores so 'hospitals can have some' which I find absolutely hilarious - Just the image of a hospital sending staff down to a Home Depot for some N95 paint masks...
- wrkronmiller 7y agoIf there’s no other choice...
- rvnx 7y agoI genuinely think doctors may do that if the government doesn't provide masks, doctors would still want to treat patients and ensure their own safety as best as they can.
- jtbayly 7y agoI know a story of an ER doctor sending somebody to the hardware store for a tool. My brother also had a regular tool used during his visit to the ER. I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that they simply purchased it at the hardware store. (It was a dremel with a diamond blade to remove his aircraft-grade aluminum ring from an injured finger. Let that be a warning to you about what you put on your finger.)
- ethbro 7y agoOut of morbid curiosity, how'd they get it off? Slip a super-hard, super-thin backer underneath it, then cut? (Aluminum probably being the best scenario, as far as industrial metals go)
- londons_explore 7y agoJust cut directly. A tiny scratch and a tiny burn from the heat of the cutting disc, but nothing worse than a paper cut.
- jtbayly 7y ago
- jvanderbot 7y agoThis. "Don't bother with masks" is actually "There is insufficient evidence to show that wearing masks is effective at preventing spread of disease", coupled with "Please don't take away our supply of masks that are for health care workers". If masks didn't stop the spread of disease, nobody, even doctors, would bother. The problem is that mask usage writ large does not have a cost/benefit point that warrants recommendation by CDC.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ethbro 7y agoThe public generally has mask effectiveness confused (possibly deliberately so, to incentivize). Masks aren't to protect you from other people. They're to protect other people from you. In that sense, yes, even a non-filtering surgical mask is extremely helpful. It helps keep your asymptomatic, virus-laden exhalations, coughs, and sneezes from overly contaminating your local environment. And that, multiplied by everyone, does make a difference. The most effective, practical response would seem to be distributing surgical masks, mandating everyone wear them in public, and restricting N95+ for health care professionals working in close proximity to infected persons.
- asdff 7y agoWith this disease there is little evidence that asymptomatic people are capable of spreading the disease, and if they are symptomatic they shouldn't be going in public anyway, let alone donning a mask and doing so.
- ethbro 7y agoEdit: Please see additional context in reply below. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2001468 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2001468
- wideasleep1 7y ago
- jmnicolas 7y ago> another 5 million N95 that expired. Genuine question : how can a mask "expire" ?
- Reelin 7y agoStockpiles can get quite old (unfortunately I don't have any concrete examples to hand). The US DoD actually runs a shelf life program for testing all sorts of things to find out if they're still good. To your question, there are many different kinds of masks. For cheap disposables, the foam or adhesive could deteriorate and it would no longer seal to your face properly. Some of the more expensive ones have cartridges; I have no idea what parts might deteriorate and under what conditions, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they didn't work after sitting on a shelf for 25 years or so. And I have no idea what various filter membranes are made of; chemical stability could conceivably pose a challenge in the long term, particularly regarding what they come into contact with inside the package.
- bsder 7y agoMost masks have elastic retention bands. The elastic will break down with time and decrease the expected effectiveness of the mask. Presumably, dust and stuff will get into the masks over time as well as some breakdown of the materials in the mask itself.
- comex 7y agoPerhaps. But why does public health policy expect Americans to voluntarily abstain from buying masks, an outcome which is not remotely realistic? It's not like this is an unpredictable situation: it happens in every epidemic. Regardless of masks' effectiveness, enough people believe they are effective to keep them sold out. If medical professionals need priority, we should have a system to give them guaranteed priority. Then, if there's a remaining surplus, they can be sold to consumers who can buy them relatively guilt-free. (Only relatively, because I suppose the masks could still be shipped elsewhere in the world.) Of course, the government should not force manufacturers to make such a surplus, but it might be profitable for them...
- TeMPOraL 7y agoI don't think it's all the individuals that buy them. There's a class of "entrepreneurs" that like to predict demand in cases like this. For instance, in Poland, masks and respirators are all gone from regular sources now. But you don't see actual people wearing them - instead, if you go to Allegro (our local Amazon/eBay), you'll find a great many sellers selling them by the thousands, at 10x-20x inflated price.
- popotamonga 7y agoIs it so hard to make masks? What's the bottleneck? Can't we just throw money at it?