Yahoo News: Trump promised 300 million N95 masks by September. He isn’t even close.. “The Trump administration is falling far short of its goal of having 300 million N95 respirators available in time for the flu season, according to internal documents reviewed by Yahoo News. Though the supply of N95 respirators has greatly increased in the last several months, it is at a little less than one-third of promised levels.”
N95 Masks
Phys .org: Restoring the filtration efficiency of N95 masks after they have been cleaned
Phys .org: Restoring the filtration efficiency of N95 masks after they have been cleaned. “In the journal Physics of Fluids, researchers from India’s Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Israel’s Technion-IIT share a method to restore the filtration efficiency of N95 masks to out-of-box levels—as long as the mask is not structurally compromised.”
CBC: 3M to make critical N95 masks at Brockville, Ont., plant
CBC: 3M to make critical N95 masks at Brockville, Ont., plant. “The federal and Ontario governments have convinced manufacturing giant 3M to start making N95 respirator masks at its plant in Brockville, Ont., a move that will give Canada a domestic supply of critical personal protective equipment, CBC News has learned.”
Putting an N95 mask in an Instant Pot decontaminates it: study (New York Post)
New York Post: Putting an N95 mask in an Instant Pot decontaminates it: study. “In the report published last month in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign discovered the electric multicooker is capable of decontaminating N95 respirators without chemicals and without compromising the equipment’s filtration or fit.”
Washington Post: The retired inventor of N95 masks is back at work, mostly for free, to fight covid-19
Washington Post: The retired inventor of N95 masks is back at work, mostly for free, to fight covid-19. “Peter Tsai retired two years ago, but the materials scientist says he’s never been busier. When the novel coronavirus began gripping the globe in March, Tsai was summoned from his short-lived retirement. He was in urgent demand because he is the inventor who, in 1995, patented the filtration material used in disposable N95 respirators. The coveted masks are in short supply and are desperately needed by health-care workers and others who require protection from the highly contagious coronavirus.”
Arizona State University: Low-cost sterilization units combat N95 shortage, help businesses
Arizona State University: Low-cost sterilization units combat N95 shortage, help businesses. “Students in the Arizona State University Luminosity Lab have created two versions of a low-cost, small-scale sterilization unit that is effective on general personal protective equipment, including increasingly scarce N95 masks.”
ScienceBlog: New Approach To Extend Shelf Life For N95 Mask
ScienceBlog: New Approach To Extend Shelf Life For N95 Mask. “A Purdue University team has come up with an approach to extend the shelf life for an N95 mask, which is one of the pieces of personal protective equipment being used by health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Purdue innovators developed a technique that focuses on the elastic band that attaches to the front of the mask.”
ProPublica: He Removed Labels That Said “Medical Use Prohibited,” Then Tried to Sell Thousands of Masks to Officials Who Distribute to Hospitals
ProPublica: He Removed Labels That Said “Medical Use Prohibited,” Then Tried to Sell Thousands of Masks to Officials Who Distribute to Hospitals . “Lucas Rensko was making money through a popular handyman-for-hire app called TaskRabbit, doing odd jobs and delivering groceries, when he picked up a task that led him to a leaky-roofed warehouse on a tattered road in northwest San Antonio. Inside, a man named Jaime Rivera had set up long tables where five or six other ‘Taskers’ earning about $20 an hour were ripping Chinese masks out of plastic bags and stuffing them into new ones that were identical but for one potentially deadly difference. The old packages were labeled in all caps ‘MEDICAL USE PROHIBITED,’ meaning not to be used by doctors and nurses who need the strongest protection from tiny particles carrying the novel coronavirus. The new bags, intended to make their way to Texas hospitals, simply omitted that warning.”
NoCamels: Fearing Another Outbreak, Israel Launches Local Production Line for N95 Masks
NoCamels: Fearing Another Outbreak, Israel Launches Local Production Line for N95 Masks. “The Israeli Ministry of Defense… said that a new production line in Sderot would make up to two million N95 masks per month, as Israel prepares for another round of an outbreak of COVID-19 infections. Israel emerged from over six weeks of lockdown – at times partial, at times, full – in mid-May and has fared relatively well with nearly 18,000 confirmed infections and close to 300 deaths. But the country has seen small outbreaks, specifically in schools, and government authorities have urged Israelis to adhere to social distancing and mask-wearing rules in public spaces.”
ProPublica: Federal Agencies Have Spent Millions on KN95 Masks, Often Without Knowing Who Made Them
ProPublica: Federal Agencies Have Spent Millions on KN95 Masks, Often Without Knowing Who Made Them. “Government employees at several agencies are relying on KN95 masks that the agencies cannot guarantee offer the most protection. Some agencies have paid little attention to important manufacturing details and been tripped up by shifting regulations.”
War of words between NYC health commissioner, NYPD erupted over face masks for cops; police unions fuming (New York Daily News)
New York Daily News: War of words between NYC health commissioner, NYPD erupted over face masks for cops; police unions fuming. “An NYPD move to commandeer a half-million hospital-grade masks at the peak of the coronavirus epidemic set off a heated war of words between the city’s health commissioner and the police department’s top cop, sources say. The standoff over the in-demand N-95 masks —headed for the swamped hospital and health care workers overwhelmed by a daily flood of COVID-19 patients — came in mid-March when cops showed up unnannounced at an out-of-state FEMA warehouse and demanded the protective gear.”
AP: Counterfeit masks reaching frontline health workers in US
AP: Counterfeit masks reaching frontline health workers in US. “On a day when COVID-19 cases soared, healthcare supplies were scarce and an anguished doctor warned he was being sent to war without bullets, a cargo plane landed at the Los Angeles International Airport, supposedly loaded with the ammo doctors and nurses were begging for: some of the first N95 medical masks to reach the U.S. in almost six weeks…. But the shipment arriving that night in late March wasn’t going to solve the problem. An Associated Press investigation has found those masks were counterfeits — as are millions of medical masks, gloves, gowns and other supplies being used in hospitals across the country, putting lives at risk.”
CNN: FEMA cancels $55 million contract for N95 masks
CNN: FEMA cancels $55 million contract for N95 masks. “The Federal Emergency Management Agency canceled a $55 million unfulfilled contract with a Virginia company for an order of N95 masks that was supposed to be sent earlier this month — the latest in a string of cancellations many states and agencies have faced amid the scramble to procure personal protective equipment for front-line workers.”
Washington Post: In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. government turned down an offer to manufacture millions of N95 masks in America
Washington Post: In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. government turned down an offer to manufacture millions of N95 masks in America. “It was Jan. 22, a day after the first case of covid-19 was detected in the United States, and orders were pouring into Michael Bowen’s company outside Fort Worth, some from as far away as Hong Kong. Bowen’s medical supply company, Prestige Ameritech, could ramp up production to make an additional 1.7 million N95 masks a week. He viewed the shrinking domestic production of medical masks as a national security issue, though, and he wanted to give the federal government first dibs…. But communications over several days with senior agency officials — including Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and emergency response — left Bowen with the clear impression that there was little immediate interest in his offer.”
Becker’s Hospital Review: How UT Health Austin is 3D printing N95 masks personalized for clinicians
Becker’s Hospital Review: How UT Health Austin is 3D printing N95 masks personalized for clinicians . “University of Texas at Austin is using facial scan and 3D printing technologies to create custom N95 masks based on the clinician’s facial shape. The mask, dubbed the Contour3D, is made of non-porous material that can be sterilized in an autoclave and features a screw-cap end that allows used filters to be swapped out for fresh inserts. UT Health Austin partnered with a team of engineers, medical professionals, software and IT experts and 3D printing specialists to create the mask. The entire process took about five weeks.”