Buying new masks can be a bad idea. Though there is an evidence, the problem is limited capacity of stocks. To my understanding, China produce these masks so massively that they can afford selling them to whole population. But, let’s say, in US, we have the opposite situation. And massively buying masks can reduce capacity of the healthcare system, which is the main bottleneck in preventing deaths now. There are a lot of articles on this topic, and I didn’t review them, but this can be an example.
And from my discussion with an MD friend who works in a clinic I got impression that masks could be a huge problem when the healthcare system will be overloaded, as even clinical workers may not have enough protection. So I’m wondering whether we can do something with either reducing the non-targeted consumption of masks (shifting to using hand-made masks?) or with improving distribution/production of masks.
To my understanding, China produce these masks so massively that they can afford selling them to whole population. But, let’s say, in US, we have the opposite situation.
Then shouldn’t we should just buy them from China?
From what brief search provides, it can be concluded that China produces tons of masks, and was supplying it to other countries, but currently they’re also on shortage. But their regulations still assume use of masks in public, so it make sense for them to prioritize their own need. See here for an example. Please, correct me if you have some other information.
This article suggests that China’s fine with shipping out masks to other countries, and also they 12x’d production in the last month or so.
“Li Xingqian, director of the foreign trade department at the Ministry of Commerce, said China had not banned the export of masks or related materials during the coronavirus epidemic, despite other countries imposing such limits.
“Masks are freely traded products … companies can trade them in line with market principles,” Li said.
[...]
“His comments pointed to Beijing’s growing confidence in its mask production capacity, after severe shortages in late January and early February.
“As of Saturday, China’s daily output of masks, including surgical masks and medical N95 masks, was 116 million units, or 12 times the output at the start of February, the country’s top economic planning agency said on Monday.”
Thanks, though it appears that the article says that China’s production rate of masks has still not quite recovered to last year’s rate (50 billion per year, or 137 million per day, if the above number counts all days in the year).
Buying new masks can be a bad idea. Though there is an evidence, the problem is limited capacity of stocks. To my understanding, China produce these masks so massively that they can afford selling them to whole population. But, let’s say, in US, we have the opposite situation. And massively buying masks can reduce capacity of the healthcare system, which is the main bottleneck in preventing deaths now. There are a lot of articles on this topic, and I didn’t review them, but this can be an example. And from my discussion with an MD friend who works in a clinic I got impression that masks could be a huge problem when the healthcare system will be overloaded, as even clinical workers may not have enough protection. So I’m wondering whether we can do something with either reducing the non-targeted consumption of masks (shifting to using hand-made masks?) or with improving distribution/production of masks.
Then shouldn’t we should just buy them from China?
From what brief search provides, it can be concluded that China produces tons of masks, and was supplying it to other countries, but currently they’re also on shortage. But their regulations still assume use of masks in public, so it make sense for them to prioritize their own need. See here for an example. Please, correct me if you have some other information.
This article suggests that China’s fine with shipping out masks to other countries, and also they 12x’d production in the last month or so.
“Li Xingqian, director of the foreign trade department at the Ministry of Commerce, said China had not banned the export of masks or related materials during the coronavirus epidemic, despite other countries imposing such limits.
“Masks are freely traded products … companies can trade them in line with market principles,” Li said.
[...]
“His comments pointed to Beijing’s growing confidence in its mask production capacity, after severe shortages in late January and early February.
“As of Saturday, China’s daily output of masks, including surgical masks and medical N95 masks, was 116 million units, or 12 times the output at the start of February, the country’s top economic planning agency said on Monday.”
Thanks, though it appears that the article says that China’s production rate of masks has still not quite recovered to last year’s rate (50 billion per year, or 137 million per day, if the above number counts all days in the year).
Currently at 200 million a day, though NPR says they’re facing shortages with the materials used to make masks.