When an N95 respirator shortage left hospitals scrambling in 2020, U.S. manufacturers stepped in. Now, those companies are facing bankruptcies and layoffs as Chinese-made masks flood the market again.
Source: U.S. Companies Shifted To Make N95 Respirators During COVID. Now, They’re Struggling
Perhaps a good move would be for the government to buy up these facilities and maintain them for future pandemics?
From this Fark thread: ”
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Idea:
Federal government contracts local companies to build up a 1 month stock of PPE and store it for emergency use for a year. They do this each month for 1 year. At the end of the first year, the first batch is now allowed to be sold by the company at reduced cost to compete with the Chinese product, and the government buys another month’s worth of production. This is now done perpetually, with contract renewals every 5-10 years. Production capacity stays available, inventory is managed by the company, and emergency distribution managed by the government (FEMA?). The government gets emergency supplies and they are only paying the difference between what the masks eventually sell for, and what the company needs to sell them for to earn profit, whereas the company receives a steady income stream for keeping the assembly lines operational. /Idea |
![[TotalFark]](https://img.fark.net/images/2013/site/totalfark.gif "[TotalFark]"){kind=small}
![[OhFark]](https://img.fark.net/images/2020/site/ohfarkred.png "[OhFark]"){kind=small}
