March 3, 2021

Buffalo Business First: ‘Good intentions’ leave Buffalo manufacturers, suppliers struggling to sell PPE stockpiles

Buffalo Business First: ‘Good intentions’ leave Buffalo manufacturers, suppliers struggling to sell PPE stockpiles. “Founded in 1985 to supply gloves and masks to the medical industry during the height of the HIV epidemic, MDS evolved over the years to supplying equipment to the industrial and construction industries. By early 2020, just 10% of business was coming from medical customers – a figure that skyrocketed to 90% almost overnight during the pandemic. Existing relationships with suppliers from around the world gave the company a secure and reliable supply of products. Yet now the company is sitting on a stockpile of N95s, isolation gowns and gloves. Google has restricted online advertising for PPE in a bid to stop counterfeiters and preserve supply for the health care industry.”

COVID-19 0
March 1, 2021

Ars Technica: Why N95 masks are still hard to get, even though production is up

Ars Technica: Why N95 masks are still hard to get, even though production is up. “Even though we’ve had more good vaccine news lately, COVID-19 in the US is still very much a widespread concern. We’re still going to need masks for many months to come. So why, a year into the pandemic, are good ones still so hard to find? The New York Times reports that there are dozens of small, US-based businesses that have pivoted to making medical-grade masks, but they can’t sell them to consumers because of policies put in place to protect supply chains at the beginning of the pandemic.”

COVID-19 0
February 27, 2021

AP: Government investigating massive counterfeit N95 mask scam

AP: Government investigating massive counterfeit N95 mask scam. “Federal authorities are investigating a massive counterfeit N95 mask operation in which fake 3M masks were sold in at least five states to hospitals, medical facilities and government agencies. The foreign-made knockoffs are becoming increasingly difficult to spot and could put health care workers at grave risk for the coronavirus.”

COVID-19 0
February 7, 2021

Tulsa World: Oklahoma paid a Tulsa bar owner $2.1 million to deliver N95 masks. Only 10,000 came, so the state is suing.

Tulsa World: Oklahoma paid a Tulsa bar owner $2.1 million to deliver N95 masks. Only 10,000 came, so the state is suing.. “In March, at the start of the pandemic, Oklahoma health officials turned four times to a Tulsa piano bar owner who was promising he could get N95 masks from China in large amounts and quickly. They ordered more than 2 million of the highly sought after masks from his brand new company, PPE Supplies LLC. On the second order, they even paid him half upfront — $2.125 million — after he promised delivery in 10 days. Now, the owner, Casey Bradford, is accused of being a liar.”

COVID-19 0
February 5, 2021

Department of Defense: DOD Uses 3D-Printing to Create N95 Respirators

Department of Defense: DOD Uses 3D-Printing to Create N95 Respirators. “Air Force Maj. Daniel Williams serves as product manager of the WEMT PMO’s N95 respirator efforts at USAMMDA. These include coordinating programmatic and regulatory support, leveraging existing government resources and developing synergies within the Defense Department’s organic industrial base to successfully generate N95 respirator products. He explained that his primary task is to ensure the medical device meets military needs and regulatory requirements, and that development of the product remains on schedule and within budget.”

COVID-19 0
September 29, 2020

Yahoo News: Trump promised 300 million N95 masks by September. He isn’t even close.

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.”

COVID-19 0
August 20, 2020

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.”

COVID-19 0
July 9, 2020

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.”

COVID-19 0
June 30, 2020

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.”

COVID-19 0

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