April 7, 2020 / By Katelyn Polantz, CNN
Washington (CNN) – A massive plan by the federal government to buy 600 million N95 face masks may not even help fight the coronavirus pandemic at its peak because the federal government had such a low supply of masks heading into the crisis.
The Department of Health and Human Services is spending almost half a billion dollars on the largest push this year so far for N95 masks, according to government contracts. The masks, once made, will go to the country’s health care stockpile and to states at no cost, yet it’ll take months for the manufacturers to be fully up to speed.
For instance, one of five companies that won multi-million dollar contracts late last month to make the N95 masks for HHS said it won’t even begin production until September. Another company to win one of the major HHS orders had sent the stockpile almost 2 million masks initially, and is making another three million in 90 days at a manufacturing plant running 24 hours a day. But the plant won’t be able to multiply the masks it can make for several months.
The mask-buying plans highlight how slow the ramping up of production has been in the US, several weeks after the federal government realized it would face a shortage and hospitals and state governments began pleading for more protective equipment for health care workers.
The Trump administration had touted the mask buying plan throughout March as a way to help a worsening supply problem. There’s no quick fix, however. An HHS spokesperson said the federal government at least hoped the major purchase would encourage companies in the longer term.
