| Submit your comments on this article |
| Economy |
| In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. government turned down an offer to manufacture millions of N95 masks in America |
| 2020-05-10 |
| [WashingtonPost] It was Jan. 22, a day after the first case of covid-19 was detected in the United States, and orders were pouring into Michael Bowen’s company outside Fort Worth, some from as far away as Hong Kong. Bowen’s medical supply company, Prestige Ameritech, could ramp up production to make an additional 1.7 million N95 masks a week. He viewed the shrinking domestic production of medical masks as a national security issue, though, and he wanted to give the federal government first dibs. “We still have four like-new N95 manufacturing lines,” Bowen wrote that day in an email to top administrators in the Department of Health and Human Services. “Reactivating these machines would be very difficult and very expensive but could be achieved in a dire situation.” But communications over several days with senior agency officials — including Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and emergency response — left Bowen with the clear impression that there was little immediate interest in his offer. ...A senior U.S. government official with knowledge of the offer said Bowen, 62, has a “legitimate beef.” “He was prescient, really,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations. “But the reality is [HHS] didn’t have the money to do it at that time.” Another HHS official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said: “There is a process for putting out contracts. It wasn’t as fast as anyone wanted it to be.” |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #11 Thank you TW. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2020-05-10 20:45 |
| #10 That’s the one, swksvolFF. Click on the Related article I added to the post. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-05-10 19:50 |
| #9 I remember reading something a few weeks back about a company willing and able to produce masks, but had been burned before and wouldn't produce without a contract. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2020-05-10 19:04 |
| #8 Thank you for the link, Bobby — I’ve had my limit of free Washington Post articles, too. Added what to me are the key paragraphs of the article, and a search of the company’s name. Note that we had an article about them about a month ago. Key bit from that article: "There is 200 times more demand than there is supply," he told former presidential adviser Steve Bannon on Bannon’s podcast. "My phone is ringing every two minutes. Every one minute I am getting an email." An examination of his warnings going back more than a dozen years tells the story. The common theme is that during an outbreak like this, everybody wants to be his customer. But as soon as an outbreak subsides, his customers dump him and run back to China. The reason? His masks may cost a dime each, but a made-in-China mask might go for two cents. "Last time he geared up and went three shifts a day working his tail off," the mayor recalled. "As soon as the issue died, he didn’t have any sales. He had to pay unemployment for all these people, and he had to gear down." Bottom line, he needs to figure out a way to get his surge costs covered during an emergency so that he can afford to surge. He tried to get the government to pay for it at the beginning of this thing, when presumably his hospital and private business orders took off, but by then it was already too late. I suspect what he needs to do is set up a price sheet for surge periods, with higher prices explained by as being needed to cover the $X million excess cost to start up and staff up the extra four production lines during the emergency, and the promise to drop back to regular prices once those costs have been paid for. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-05-10 18:40 |
| #7 Looks like MSN has co-opted the NYT article. No paywall. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2020-05-10 16:27 |
| #6 "... left Bowen with the clear impression that there was little immediate interest in his offer." [emphasis added]. WaPo running interference for Dems. Again. |
| Posted by: Anomalous Sources 2020-05-10 16:18 |
| #5 Meant no offense, likely my settings, interesting article, just got kicked around a bit to finish it. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2020-05-10 14:53 |
| #4 #2 Well, it works for me. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-05-10 14:48 |
| #3 Tried to read it but Wash-Pee sites is an absolute egg sucker. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2020-05-10 12:58 |
| #2 Washington Post article; blocker. |
| Posted by: b 2020-05-10 11:02 |
| #1 Imagine them trying to issue a national ID card... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-05-10 10:42 |