Why is it still impossible to buy N95 masks?

by philg

Americans in many states and/or cities are required by law to wear “masks” of some sort, but compliance seems to be spotty and competence yet spottier. The “mask” devolves into a saliva-soaked face rag that leaves at least the nose exposed, for example.

What about people who want to protect themselves, not simply pretend to protect others? We’re in Month 4 of Shutdown here in Maskachusetts. Why can’t we buy masks that would actually provide some protection, i.e., a paper N95 mask? Drugstores seem to have ample supplies of surgical-type masks, but I haven’t seen N95 masks anywhere. From the Home Depot site:

This medical supply site seems to have them at $8 each. This site charges $1.80 per mask (real 3M brand), but says to expect a 2-3 month wait.

The health care industry is obviously using a lot more of these than before, but is it really that difficult to make an N95 mask? Or perhaps the process of obtaining certification for a new supplier is lengthy?

15 thoughts on “Why is it still impossible to buy N95 masks?”

  2. N95s are all going to medical personnel, it seems. The liability and price competition from China mostly killed the manufacturing of these in the US, from what I’ve read.

    The KN95 is the Chinese equivalent to the N95. Stats are virtually identical.

    I purchased a bunch from Adorama recently. They ship fast and the quality is good.

    https://www.adorama.com/gxrsakn95.html

    The ear loops are a little short for American men. Workable, but not perfect. I got out the glue gun and some elastic band and made them into “over the head” style. 11.5 inches seems to work. Link to the material:
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086DY6LST/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Avoid masks with vents, which provide no protection to others.

    For those inclined, here is how the N95 filtering works. This is not like you’d think—it’s not just a sieve.

    • a very illuminating video. So these masks essentially work by static electricity.

    • I’ve seen that and find it really interesting, I do have to wonder if that was by design, or post facto accidental discovery, why does this crazy mask made out of our otherwise scraps of “felt” working so well

    • How do you know anything about the primary essential quality of blocking a percentage of sub-micron particles without having your own testing machine?

  5. Because we arrested all the people selling them (https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/feds-distribute-200k-n95-masks-seized-from-coronavirus-hoarder/), thereby discouraging anyone from getting into this business, or anyone already in this business from ramping up supply (which might require selling at higher prices, to e.g. pay for materials that are in short supply, or pay workers to work overtime). If you go into business producing or distributing essential supplies for Americans, you will be awarded through being arrested, fined, and having all your goods seized. You’re asking basically the same question as “why are so many electronics stores in Venezuela empty?” The US is achieving the impressive feat of simultaneously collapsing into a fascist dictatorship in one direction and also into a communist sh*thole in another.

    • @Ryan: Check out the lobbying numbers for the Coalition for Breathing Safety (your second link): In 2005 they spent almost a million dollars (15 lobbyists), in 2006 about half a million dollars(18 lobbyists), and then in 2007 it dropped to almost nothing and never rebounded. By 2008 we were in the throes of the Great Recession and they had only 2 lobbyists, spent almost nothing, and that was the end.

      “Without legislation, the ability for American manufacturers to address emergency preparedness or have surge production capacity is and will be severely constrained,” wrote the company heads. “Already, one major manufacturer has announced that it will no longer produce N-95 respirators for the industrial market. Another is seriously considering withdrawing from the market, and it has become difficult to convince shareholders to invest in new capacity in the United States.”

      Here’s some more depth regarding the lawsuits they were facing in 2005:

      https://www.ishn.com/articles/84474-congressman-proposes-relief-for-respirator-manufacturers

      “Between 2000 and 2004, five of those companies were named in 326,215 injury claims, most of which are pending, the coalition told the paper. Many of the claims were filed by silica-dust victims who each sued dozens of companies but “show no real signs of illness,” according to the coalition.”

      We allowed the industry to get sued out of existence, or have their company Boards and shareholders tell them: “this is a money loser, don’t do it” and then the Great Recession. Nobody took any action to shield the manufacturers from liability until it was too late. The lawsuits were a lot more lucrative for the people who matter. It was also much more attractive for politicians to be able to say they were holding mask manufacturers accountable for the injuries to people inhaling silica dust. Nobody wanted to change that, so we lost the industry and now we’re in the coronavirus sh*thole.

      “Last year, 3M said it had paid nearly $300 million to resolve about 300,000 respirator claims. As of March 31, it had resolved another 50,000 claims, according to the report.” What kind of company could stay alive in that market facing those kinds of liabilities? None of them. So they got out.

    • Lobbying numbers for Coalition for Breathing Safety:

      https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2007&id=F215017

      This is an organization that would have been attacked as a “special interest” seeking special treatment from the government for profits by spending money on lobbyists. Their efforts went nowhere, and as a result we’re in a pandemic now and we can’t make enough respirator masks.

      This country has created for itself the worst of all possible worlds. We’re insane and we deserve what we get.

  6. I think you meant “We can put on a man on the moon so why is it impossible to buy N95 masks?”. But anyway you would imagine that some of the DIY energy left over from the unneeded respirators would be channeled into filter material machines. Especially since they look like fancy 3D printers.

  7. Why does anyone have confidence that masks (e.g., KN95) made by random manufacturer (e.g, non-3M/Honeywell) are actually N95?

    • That’s a good question and there’s no reason to believe a lot of the Chinese masks that come from their “army of mask makers” are being made on machines that actually blow the fibers correctly. The Chinese can make 200 million “masks” a day, but only about 1 million of the N95/KN95 variety. Many of the companies making them in China have been stood up on a moment’s notice. They’re being run out of old buildings with secondhand and third-hand machines. I’ll bet any amount of money that they keep all of the “good” KN95s for the home market and we get the garbage. And we have to accept the garbage because we don’t/can’t make our own and we’re so overlitigated in this country that we put our own manufacturers out of business with lawsuits, as Ryan’s link shows. Read the link at Fazal’s post also. We suck.

      The production capacity cannot be created in a day, or a week, or even a few months. The machines that blow the fibers for these masks are precision devices that take months to assemble, ship and install. We didn’t consider it important enough to worry about for more than 10 years.

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