SARS was 20 years ago. France has had 20 years to prepare for this but left it to the last minute. Of course the masks are going to the highest bidder, that's entirely predictable.
Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
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Re: Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
#12Re: Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
#13SARS was 20 years ago. France has had 20 years to prepare for this but left it to the last minute. Of course the masks are going to the highest bidder, that's entirely predictable.
It’s like if you paid for a new car and when you want to unlock it and drive it home someone else pays two times more and takes it from you.
That’s not not allowed even in the freest markets in the world.
Re: Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
#14France hijacks masks and other PPE intended for EU: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/coronavirus-eur... “On March 3rd, President Emmanuel Macron announced that he was requisitioning ‘all stocks and the production of protective masks’ for distribution to medical personnel and French people infected with Covid-19. One fifth of all surgical procedures in the EU use personal protective equipment imported from…
The better quote would be this:
"Mölnlycke’s entire stock of an estimated six million masks was seized by the French. All had been contracted for, including a million masks each for France, Italy and Spain. The rest were destined for Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland, which has special trading status with the EU."
Re: Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
That doesn't make any sense.
You need masks based on the number of patients, not the number of patients per capita, it makes perfect sense. Not that I'm defending this.
Looking at either number of patients or patients per capita both result in nonfractional masks given to individual patients.
It's just a matter of whether someone morally thinks more patients equals more urgent (60k FR vs 235K US), or a higher percentage of the population as patients (0.08% FR vs 0.07% US) equals more urgent, no?
Re: Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
#16Germany did the same thing to Switzerland (seized rather then outbid)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-09/germany-f...
Countries that have the power are doing everything to ensure they have masks first. I'm not surprised France and US are doing it.
Re: Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
You need masks based on the number of patients, not the number of patients per capita, it makes perfect sense. Not that I'm defending this.
Looking at either number of patients or patients per capita both result in nonfractional masks given to individual patients. It's just a matter of whether someone morally thinks more patients equals more urgent (60k FR vs 235K US), or a higher percentage of the population as patients (0.08% FR vs 0.07% US) equals more urgent, no?
I don't know where diebeforei485 was going with "fractional masks" either, but thatguy0900 makes a good point in isolation.
A country of 1,000 people and a 10% infection rate has a greater shortage of masks than a country of 5 people and a 100% infection rate.
Re: Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looking at either number of patients or patients per capita both result in nonfractional masks given to individual patients. It's just a matter of whether someone morally thinks more patients equals more urgent (60k FR vs 235K US), or a higher percentage of the population as patients (0.08% FR vs 0.07% US) equals more urgent, no?
I don't know where diebeforei485 was going with "fractional masks" either, but thatguy0900 makes a good point in isolation. A country of 1,000 people and a 10% infection rate has a greater shortage of masks than a country of 5 people and a 100% infection rate.
I agree with you, but I think that was MagnumOpus's point of bringing up patients per million.
A country of 1,000 people and a 10% infection rate has more patients that need masks, but it could be argued that a country of 5 people and a 100% infection rate needs the masks more, lest their entire country suddenly collapse and cease to exist.
Seems like arguing that France has more patients per million implies they have a bigger threat to the country itself (traditions, systems, jobs, etc) or that the spread is less contained (and therefore more in need of PPE), compared to another country with a lower patients-per-million that is theoretically not hit "as hard", but still may have more individual patients at risk.
Re: Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
#19SARS was 20 years ago. France has had 20 years to prepare for this but left it to the last minute. Of course the masks are going to the highest bidder, that's entirely predictable.
It’s like if you paid for a new car and when you want to unlock it and drive it home someone else pays two times more and takes it from you. That’s not not allowed even in the freest markets in the world.
It is allowed. It's a fundamental principle of international law that states are not subject to the laws of other states, except by treaty. There's no applicable law that would prevent China from doing this.
Besides even in the consumer space you have things like airlines overbooking flights and then kicking people off the plane when too many passengers show up.
Re: Face masks from China intended for France 'hijacked' by US at the last minute
#20So what's going on? This article claims that millions of N95 respirators located in the US are queued up to be shipped overseas:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2020/03/30/i-spent...
> 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.
> To his knowledge none of the masks had been purchased by buyers in the U.S.