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Was mask manufacturing capacity during the pandemic an issue?

by squigz 2y ago

hudon 2y ago
Yes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortages_related_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortages_related_to_the_COVID...
- manwe150 2y ago
  Both yes and no. It was a brief lack of available local stock from suddenly unexpected demand, followed by a lack of factories willing to stop doing well paid work to switch to making cheap masks, while we waited for even cheaper masks to get made and imported from countries with cheap labor, followed by a surplus of masks (source: a brief chat with a factory manager in my social network who was considering whether he could at least break even on costs and labor if temporarily switching to making masks)
  - mitthrowaway2 2y ago
    Even then, there weren't enough melt spinning machines in North America to make the necessary raw materials, and the lead time on new machines was too long to address the shortage in time to respond to the needs of a pandemic. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/n95-mask-shortage-melt-blown-filters/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/n95-mask-shortage-melt-blown-fi...
mitthrowaway2 2y ago
Yes, it was a severe and acute issue.
olyjohn 2y ago
I think so, isn't that why they brought in all the KN95 masks? The K meaning "Korean."
- TylerE 2y ago
  KN95 is Chinese.
throwup238 2y ago
Yes, and the American N95+ mask manufacturers didn't want to risk another boom-bust cycle so when the government wouldn't guarantee them a long term purchase deal, they couldn't ramp up. They had gone through this same scenario during the first SARS scare and almost went bankrupt when everyone went back to buying cheaper imported masks. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-the-early-days-of-the-pandemic-the-us-government-turned-down-an-offer-to-manufacture-millions-of-n95-masks-in-america/2020/05/09/f76a821e-908a-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-the-early-d...

Was mask manufacturing capacity during the pandemic an issue?

by squigz 2y ago

Was mask manufacturing capacity during the pandemic an issue?

Yes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortages_related_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortages_related_to_the_COVID...

manwe150 2y ago
Both yes and no. It was a brief lack of available local stock from suddenly unexpected demand, followed by a lack of factories willing to stop doing well paid work to switch to making cheap masks, while we waited for even cheaper masks to get made and imported from countries with cheap labor, followed by a surplus of masks (source: a brief chat with a factory manager in my social network who was considering whether he could at least break even on costs and labor if temporarily switching to making masks)
- mitthrowaway2 2y ago
  Even then, there weren't enough melt spinning machines in North America to make the necessary raw materials, and the lead time on new machines was too long to address the shortage in time to respond to the needs of a pandemic. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/n95-mask-shortage-melt-blown-filters/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/n95-mask-shortage-melt-blown-fi...

mitthrowaway2 2y ago

Yes, it was a severe and acute issue.

olyjohn 2y ago

I think so, isn't that why they brought in all the KN95 masks? The K meaning "Korean."

TylerE 2y ago
KN95 is Chinese.

throwup238 2y ago

Yes, and the American N95+ mask manufacturers didn't want to risk another boom-bust cycle so when the government wouldn't guarantee them a long term purchase deal, they couldn't ramp up. They had gone through this same scenario during the first SARS scare and almost went bankrupt when everyone went back to buying cheaper imported masks. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-the-early-days-of-the-pandemic-the-us-government-turned-down-an-offer-to-manufacture-millions-of-n95-masks-in-america/2020/05/09/f76a821e-908a-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-the-early-d...