I agree that immediate banning of international sales would have been stupid, as well as uncaring, especially when we did not have an immediate need and China did. If China had failed to control the virus when it did due to a worse lack of PPE than they encountered, we all would have been in worse shape. The real fault of the US Federal government is its failure to centralize the purchase and domestic distribution of critical equipment, including PPE. This has resulted in bidding wars among the 53-odd sub-federal jurisdictions in the US, producing vast overpayments for products, irrational distribution of available equipment, and waste of financial and personnel resources that could have been put to other tasks in fighting the epidemic.
Peter Zavon, CIH
Penfield, NY
PZAVON**At_Symbol_Here**Rochester.rr.com
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU> On Behalf Of Harrison, Paul
Sent: Thursday, April 2, 2020 10:28 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] N-95 disinfection and reuse: The NIOSH Guidance has Been Released!
"our Federal Government has failed to step in, declare an emergency, and immediately regulate the trade in masks as well as banning their export: "
Aha! So now I understand what "America first" really means! Your selfless consideration for the rest of the world is duly noted. There is an emergency everywhere, folks.
Rob, I admire all your posts to this list and the outstanding work of all the posters. But I think you are off on this one. We just don't have all the answers for this situation.... and we probably haven't even asked all the questions yet. We need to come together to solve this thing: if we try to silo, the virus will eventually come back to get us.
Paul Harrison, B.A. Hons. (Oxon), Ph.D. |
Associate Professor and Associate Chair (Undergraduate) |
Chemistry & Chemical Biology |
Dept. of Chemistry & Chemical Biology
ABB-156
McMaster University
1280 Main St. West.
Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1 |
 =E2=80=82location: ABB-418
 =E2=80=82phone: (905) 525-9140 x 27290
 =E2=80=82email: pharriso**At_Symbol_Here**mcmaster.ca
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From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] on behalf of ILPI Support [info**At_Symbol_Here**ILPI.COM]
Sent: April 2, 2020 9:22 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] N-95 disinfection and reuse: The NIOSH Guidance has Been Released!
Apparently, the shortage in this country is because our Federal Government has failed to step in, declare an emergency, and immediately regulate the trade in masks as well as banning their export:
At one point he received an update that 43 million masks were available in New Jersey, in the same time-frame that federal and state leaders were saying in press conferences that they were "scouring the globe" for masks. But the masks in New Jersey, along with many million more, didn't go to any domestic buyer. Instead, according to the broker, they were all purchased by foreign buyers.
"Most of the masks are leaving the country," he told me.
By the end of the day, roughly 280 million masks from warehouses around the U.S. had been purchased by foreign buyers and were earmarked to leave the country, according to the broker - and that was in one day.
Capitalism is the best economic system, hands down. But it is a terrible social system.
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