Thread by @christinelu

You know why our frontline healthcare workers can’t get the supplies they need? Because we are limiting options in the global supply chain to US standards and creating bottlenecks during an emergency.

We need to recognize country equivalent standards so we can import supplies.

Ask your hospital, city, state to tell whoever is bottlenecking global options for needed medical supplies to accept country equivalent standards.

N95 masks are equivalent to FFP2 and KN95 masks. If other countries are doing this why can’t we?

I am up 20 hours a day for months getting requests for supplies and while other countries are buying everything up, Americans are getting in their own way on narrow requirements.

You know how hard it is to find a factory that is FDA, NIOSH approved with English packaging?

Then there are the ones that tell me they don’t want masks made in China. Did you know China make most of the world’s masks?

Did you know countries in Europe have export restrictions now on their supplies?

Did you know the US makes NONE of this stuff in big enough supply?

We are in the middle of a pandemic and Americans are doing what we do best and getting in our own damn way. People are going to die because some dumbass is ok with distributors who have 8-12 week back orders.

Meanwhile, other countries are locking up factory production lines.

I have Americans asking for SAMPLES to be sent from factories who don’t care because someone from Europe just bought out 6 months of production for their country.

You’re going to ask for SAMPLES during a pandemic like you have leverage? Seriously?

Imagine a limited number of factories in the world now running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and still not able to keep up with demand from every country begging them for some quota in their production line.

You think they want to send your lack of self awareness a sample?

Factory owners have all the leverage right now. They don’t care about your need for samples. They require 100% payment. They don’t need to give you volume discounts.

You either buy from them or don’t. They don’t care because plenty of buyers throwing money at them.

The entire global supply chain has been disrupted. Buyers have zero leverage. There is product out there being made but a lot of it is made for other countries.

If people understood that FFP2 and KN95 masks were the same as N95 masks there would be less of a shortage here.

If Americans weren’t so xenophobic they would also be ok with medical supplies with packaging in other languages. Factory owners have zero incentive to stop production line and switch to English packaging.

Get whoever is in charge to recognize country equivalent standards.

There are many factories overseas that are CE certified and produce FFP2 and KN95 masks but because they are not FDA or NIOSH approved people have no access to them.

emag.medicalexpo.com/which-masks-ac…

YES! Please share with anyone who needs to understand. The CDC is acknowledging the country equivalent of N95 masks.

Knowing this gives people more options for medical supply during shortages.

cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…

“These devices are expected to be suitable alternatives to provide protection during the COVID-19 response when supplies are short.”

THIS. We severely limit our options when sticking to N95 NIOSH only masks at a time of emergency.

cdc.gov/coronavirus/20…

Calling this Project Safe Health.

Focused on connecting hospitals, clinics and orgs with factory direct medical supplies for their frontline healthcare workers.

We have secured production allocation to several factories. Share with who needs it.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

This is a NIOSH certified N95 respirator. We have access to 6 million units ready to ship but apparently the Chinese language packaging brings out the xenophobia in some people. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is what 55 gallon barrels of hand sanitizer looks like.

Shout out to @typesfast and the team at @flexport. Awesome call with them and @joe__wilson__ yesterday.

We’re already integrating them into action on many of our upcoming cross border PPE shipments. Thanks @peterpham!

These 2 masks are the most overrated hype of this whole pandemic so far.

It’s costing lives because those in a position to purchase EQUIVALENT masks at better pricing are insisting on paying 5X-10X the cost for one of these.

Ask the people responsible for procuring PPE why they insist on only buying 3M 1860.

Ask if they know the difference between N95, KN95 and FFP2. Show them this 3M file basically saying it’s all the same.

Then ask them to get in action.

Every day, I wake up to some offer for a stockpile of 3M 1860. There was supposedly 1 million of these at an airport in Korea going for $5 a mask. Waiting for a buyer to flip to someone else for $5.50 before selling it to hospitals for $8.

I MEAN WTF PEOPLE.

Side by side comparison of various equivalent masks to the N95 from different countries.

No. These are not on the CDC list. Because they are used in other countries. Americans aren’t extra special when it comes to these masks. Although we act like it.

multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1791…

I received info on a stockpile of 6 million FDA approved FFP2 / N95 masks today and the pricing is $2.50 ...a reminder to stop buying into the $10 mask from 3M is better bullshit.

...working on matching hospitals and local governments in the USA with these stockpiles we come across.

Not easy. Often times bought up by another country before we can even submit a purchase order on the US buyer behalf. Me dialing in all my cross border favors.