Why did SEIU manage to find them but the federal government didn’t?
BuzzFeed asked an SEIU spokesman why the distributor had such a gigantic stockpile of masks sitting around and he said he had no idea. Congrats to the union on a big — and weird — find, which basically doubles the number of masks in the national stockpile in one fell swoop. The new inventory is still only enough to supply medical purchasers in New York and California, and the number represents just one percent of the 3.5 billion masks that are expected to be needed before the crisis ends, but it’s a start. Oh, and there’s another detail: “The masks are $5 each, and the union has no financial interest in the transactions.”
Five bucks? Don’t these masks normally go for 60 to 80 cents a pop? The distributor’s entitled to a little mark-up at a moment when demand is stratospheric, I guess, but a 700 percent return is an impressive case of plague profiteering.
> just one percent of the 3.5 billion masks that are expected to be needed before the crisis ends
Are medical professionals seriously so incompetent that they cannot wash, dry, and then re-use masks (not the disposable kind obv.)? It probably doesn't meet OSHA standards or whatever, but I don't think OSHA standards are terribly applicable in an 'emergency' situation. I'd rather a re-used mask than none at all for the medical personnel.
> Five bucks? Don’t these masks normally go for 60 to 80 cents a pop?
CA law says that, especially during an emergency, a 10% mark-up from cost for stockpiled goods can apply. Fuck these dishonest kikes. Confiscate the masks, lock them up, and plug your ears for the Hebraic screeching.
There are so many ways to sanitize them.
They normally go for about $8 a pop.
n95 masks are going to get workers killed because they work when they are working as intended. They work as intended about 1/2 the time. Paint respirators can be fitted with the same class of filter (usually they have a higher filter on them), are cheaper over multiple uses, are more mass manufacturable because they are just injection molded plastic, and actually seal against your face consistently (that's where n95s are going to get workers killed).
They need to just tell every worker to get a paint respirator. Other kinds of workers bring their own PPE. These medical staff make 100k a year. Waiters and construction workers make less but can afford work related shoes. A paint respirator only costs $20 and will last pretty much forever. The filters will last a long time because they aren't getting full of paint particles in a medical setting, and don't get unsanitary like an n95 mask from breathing back through the filter.
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