US government turned down opportunity to manufacture millions of N-95 masks at start of pandemic: report
BY J. EDWARD MORENO - 05/09/20 09:22 PM EDT
The Department of Health and Human Services turned down an opportunity to access millions of U.S.-manufactured N-95 masks in January, according to The Washington Post.
The N-95 masks have been in high demand since the pandemic hit the United States and healthcare workers scramble to protect themselves as thousands of patients flood local hospitals.
On January 22, a medical supply company in Fort Worth, Texas, Prestige Ameritech, offered to ramp up production to make an additional 1.7 million N95 masks, noting that the federal government’s stockpile was diminishing.
The government turned down the offer.
“I don’t believe we as a government are anywhere near answering those questions for you yet,” Laura Wolf, director of the agency’s Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection, responded the same day Prestige inquired about its stockpile, according to the Post.
Michael Bowen, who owns the company, told HHS his company was receiving various requests from private entities but would be willing to set masks aside for the government. ...