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> This is one of those instances where the government needs to step in and store inventory. The Strategic National Stockpile does store an inventory of masks.
by sp332 7y ago
> This is one of those instances where the government needs to step in and store inventory.
The Strategic National Stockpile does store an inventory of masks. 13,000,000 of them. https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/10/coronavirus-strategic-national-stockpile/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/10/coronavirus-strategic-na... According to https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/05/washington-state-asked-us-stockpile-coronavirus-masks-response-raises-concerns/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/05/washington-... they have plans to get another half billion.
- sjwright 7y agoSounds to me like that manufacturer needs to contact the operators of that stockpile.
- rasz 7y agonot the other way around?
- wyattpeak 7y agoIt feels like we need some better way to maintain systems in the fairly long term, after most people have forgotten their significance. This sort of preparation looks useful, but I don't have the greatest hope that it will really help us deal with the next outbreak - I'm sure we had large stockpiles of equipment after the Spanish Flu too. It'll likely be down to 13 million again by the next pandemic.
- bsder 7y agoThe US HAD a department for exactly this kind of pandemic planning. A bunch of anti-science knuckleheads decided to eliminate it.
- wyattpeak 7y agoSure, but my concern is that over the course of decades, inevitably there'll be some group of anti-science knuckleheads who decide to eliminate it. It's no good railing against the specific group, because there'll always be another. The problem which feels like it needs addressing is the fact that it's possible for these groups to interrupt the solution.
- D_Alex 7y ago>The Strategic National Stockpile does store an inventory of masks. 13,000,000 of them. That's like 1/10th of 1 day's needs... >they have plans to get another half billion Each week until the virus is contained, I hope.
- sp332 7y agoIt's not supposed to be a primary source for masks. It's a reserve.
- adrianN 7y agoTo me it seems like we're in a situation where you would use such a reserve.
- floatingatoll 7y agoExhausting that reserve in one day would do nothing to curb the epidemic, and do nothing to protect the nation other than delay any onset by one day. Reserving the masks for CDC, vaccine researchers, and national defense operators would be an example of good uses of a nation-focused 'national' reserve. Think 'trolley problem' where one side of the track is the nation-entity that contains the citizens on the other side of the track.