No shortage at any of the hospitals I've worked in over the past several months.
A regular surgical mask is enough for the average street walker, and a month ago in NY there were people handing boxes of them out to people in the streets for free.
Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
61–70 of 106 posts
Re: Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
#62> These businesses must overcome the ingrained purchasing habits of hospital systems, medical supply distributors and state governments. I’m guessing this is the real crux of the problem. They’re trying to sell to some of the most glacial organizations on planet. The bigger the organization, the slower it moves. Purchasing cycles can take anywhere from 6 months to YEARS if you’re talking big business or government. T…
I worked at Monster.com (job posting service) ten years ago and this was essentially their business model: HR departments would be locked into a long term contract of 2-5 years, which was (anecdotally) a longer period than typical HR manager role who would approve a contract like this, so they would often not even be around for a renewal and whoever replaced them would be sucked into signing another long term contract.
Re: Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
#63I do not really understand why hospital workers and others that use masks daily for whole shift still use single-use N95 masks and not half-face respirators with reusable filters, like 3M 7500 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5zbj3_ezqE ). They are more comfortable and fit much better.
My guess is that it's to prevent cross-contamination.
i.e. wearing a mask will protect a user, but the outside of it isn't sterile. So if you come off a covid ward, easier to just bin the mask and take a new one, than wash the outside of a re-usable one.
Re: Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure you're aware -- but I was very surprised to find out -- that the European CE certification mark was _quite_ so similar to the younger China Export Mark: https://www.ybw.com/vhf-marine-radio-guide/warning-dont-get-...
Also note that it’s an urban myth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking#China_Export
Anecdata: I saw an incorrect CE mark (presumably China Export) a couple of weeks after learning about it (Dec 2020).
The citation's from 12 years ago and may no longer be accurate.
Re: Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Huh, FFP2 masks are now available for 1-2 EUR here, individually packaged, and less in packs. They're sold everywhere, from discount supermarkets to pharmacies (where they're a bit more expensive). Of course, prices were much higher a couple of months ago.
Where is that? In Austria they're in abundance at every supermarket for 59 cents.
Germany. I wouldn't be surprised to find them for <1 EUR here, too, I was being a bit conservative in my estimate.
Re: Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
We should remember that the certification processes for medical stuff are very long and extensive, yet even so a mask that allows 5% of air to leak round the edge of the mask will pass the certification! Given that, I have no issues with using a fake mask. My manual fitting effort to reduce leakage around the mask will have far far more impact on health outcomes than the exact specifications of the way the ear straps…
What assurance would you have that a product "mostly works" other than a certification by professionals? If we rely on common sense, we might as well all drink bleach.
Policies written with a more holistic view would say "lets spot check these masks, and for masks we find that is sub-par we will fine the importer some smallish amount that approximates the economic effect of the deficiency".
For example, if the standard says "must reduce particulates by 95%", yet the mask reduces particulates by 94%, then it might be reasonable to fine the importer (6-5)/5 = 20% of the value of the goods.
The key is to try to encourage all products to be as good as possible, without introducing months of delay and tens of thousands of dollars of paperwork for every product.
Re: Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also note that it’s an urban myth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking#China_Export
Anecdata: I saw an incorrect CE mark (presumably China Export) a couple of weeks after learning about it (Dec 2020). The citation's from 12 years ago and may no longer be accurate.
They even mention CE compliant products not adhering to the logo’s formal specification. There is literally nothing that makes it "presumably China Export".
Re: Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
#68I thought I was Chicken Little buying my first masks (P100 respirators) in January 2020. I bought a couple more fancy ones in Feb. Days later, decent masks disappeared—those had to last me the rest of 2020. Around November(?), Powecom masks became FDA approved and I've bought plenty through https://bonafidemasks.com . There are coupons floating around (try slickdeals). The headband style ones are a little more $, but…
I just received an order of their KN95 masks with headbands -- I agree about the headband style. It seems a bit easier to get a seal with, and easier on the ears. I'm pleased with them. FYI, 2021 is a 10% off coupon code atm. I received my package 6 business days after ordering.
That said, was I aware of these smaller USA n95 sellers, I might have purchased from them. But at slightly less than $1/mask delivered for these KN95s, it's still a good choice.
Re: Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then they might as well use the real logo as the CE mark for medical equipments also has to include the standard tested for, and the lab which did the certification (for Chinese masks that’s 99% a lab in Turkey)
What's up with Turkey? Recently bought German made masks and they were CE certified by a Turkish company/organisation.
Which one was it? The common one is Universal Certification and Surveillance Services Trade Co. [0]
What I’ve heard, is that almost all the European labs had crazy backlogs for certification of PPE and the Turkish one was the only one with capacity.
[0] www.universalcert.com
Re: Can’t Find an N95 Mask? This Company Has 30M That It Can’t Sell
#70I thought I was Chicken Little buying my first masks (P100 respirators) in January 2020. I bought a couple more fancy ones in Feb. Days later, decent masks disappeared—those had to last me the rest of 2020. Around November(?), Powecom masks became FDA approved and I've bought plenty through https://bonafidemasks.com . There are coupons floating around (try slickdeals). The headband style ones are a little more $, but…
Foreign governments (ahem, government) bought the masks from underneath the US's nose. The USG should have insta-blocked exports.
Not just the government directly, but also a big established network of their citizens:
“Who stole all the masks?” (2020-04-03)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImmRjT74i-c
That’s the practice known as “Daigou” (代购): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daigou
A pre-pandemic article about the practice, specifically in Australia: “The daigou channel — how a handful of Chinese shoppers turned into a billion-dollar industry” (2019-07-31) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-31/chinese-daigou-changi...