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demmiblue

(36,743 posts)
Sat May 9, 2020, 12:30 PM May 2020

In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. government turned down an offer to manufacture millions

Source: WaPo

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.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-the-early-days-of-the-pandemic-the-us-government-turned-down-an-offer-to-manufacture-millions-of-n95-masks-in-america/2020/05/09/f76a821e-908a-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html

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keithbvadu2

(36,362 posts)
1. That would be the same Trump administration that blamed Obama for bare shelves?
Sat May 9, 2020, 12:32 PM
May 2020

That would be the same Trump administration that blamed Obama for bare shelves?

 

Budi

(15,325 posts)
3. They put Bowen on hold while they shopped for a contractor who'd line their own pockets
Sat May 9, 2020, 12:50 PM
May 2020

My opinion..

Kashkakat v.2.0

(1,752 posts)
4. UMM.... its not too late. Get it going NOW. Not only for medical, but for general public assuming
Sat May 9, 2020, 12:57 PM
May 2020

we really do want to be going back to work and reactivating the economy?

Theres no way Im gonna sit crammed on a city bus or next to a co worker unless I have real protection (not cute grandma mask).

Igel

(35,191 posts)
6. You really think the company, for the last two months,
Sat May 9, 2020, 01:26 PM
May 2020

as demand as skyrocketed and prices for the masks increased, has just sat there and said, "Gee, the US government didn't buy it and I know there aren't any other possible customers. I guess I'll just leave my production facilities idle until that one person contacts me. Hundreds of people have called me, but that Ima Hogg-Doofusmorth still hasn't returned my call."

Kashkakat v.2.0

(1,752 posts)
9. Thats not what I meant - at all. Was more directed at fed govt as we STILL dont have
Sat May 9, 2020, 02:47 PM
May 2020

enough PPE, regardless of what this one particular co. is doing or not doing.

Something thats worth calling our reps about IMHO.

Kashkakat v.2.0

(1,752 posts)
5. QUESTION- why is the white house controlling supply/spending on masks? Doesnt spending originate
Sat May 9, 2020, 01:02 PM
May 2020

in the congress and if so cant Dems get out in front of this and initiate spending?

h2ebits

(632 posts)
7. In this very confused capitalist greed society. . . .
Sat May 9, 2020, 01:38 PM
May 2020

While I know that we were and are still desperately in need of N95 masks, the phrase that sticks out in this article is this one:

“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.”

Bowen sounds more like a capitalist opportunist trying to be first in line to get a government contract where he could charge an arm-and-a-leg for each mask, than someone who was seeing a dire situation developing and offering to help. Instead he held out for a federal government contract to open up all 4 dormant lines. Per the article, he even went to Steve Bannon for help.

And his claim to being a "patriot" is pure hogwash. He could have started up one of his dormant lines and sold masks to the states and hospitals that have been desperate. Once that proved insufficient, he could have opened up another dormant line and so forth.

I understand that the article is written as part of the whistleblower complaint of Rick Bright and, yes, it shows the total absolute chaos and confusion that makes up our federal government today, but Bowen IMO is NOT on the right side of history here. In the end, other companies stepped up and he ended up with a contract that didn't inconvenience him. Per the article:

On April 7, FEMA awarded Prestige a $9.5 million contract to provide a million N95 masks a month for one year, an order the company could fulfill without activating its dormant manufacturing lines. For the masks, Prestige charged the government 79 cents a piece.

thesquanderer

(11,953 posts)
11. I agree about Bowen's self-interest, but that doesn't excuse what happened.
Sat May 9, 2020, 03:58 PM
May 2020

In the end, he provided masks at 79 cents a piece, a fair price... presumably the price would have been higher if they had ordered the quantity that would have required opening the dormant lines, and sure, he probably would have made a lot of money, but the government would have had the masks, and from the sound of it, very possibly at lower cost than the $5.50 it's paying others. Bowen may not be a saint, but the bigger story was how much of a botch this was by the administration.

SunSeeker

(51,367 posts)
8. Nurses have died because they didn't have N95 masks.
Sat May 9, 2020, 01:39 PM
May 2020

Their deaths, and the deaths of 80,000 other Americans, are on Trump's hands.

ailsagirl

(22,837 posts)
10. This so-called administration has BLOOD ON ITS HANDS
Sat May 9, 2020, 03:43 PM
May 2020

Unforgivable!!

This has got to be the biggest blunder ever... yet, they're still here

What will it take????

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