Thread by @EpsilonTheory

This Bloomberg article on the trickle-down supply of PPE to frontline healthcare workers and first responders hit a nerve.

So here’s a long thread on the truth about PPE supply in the United States today.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

My bona fides to talk about this stuff…

Since March, we’ve purchased and distributed about 120,000 N95 and KN95 masks to about 1,100 hospitals and clinics, police and fire depts, prisons and shelters.

We know masks, and we have a unique view of the real-world Covid situation.

We don’t compete with federal and state emergency authorities. We also don’t WAIT on federal and state authorities.

We send 100-200 masks directly to doctors, nurses, EMTs, public safety officers and social workers in urgent need of PPE, and they hand out to their teams.

Things ARE better today.

In April we were sending out 10-20k masks per week. Today it’s 5k per week.

In April we were sending out to ERs at major hospitals. Today the ERs are fine.

In April it cost $5 for a so-so KN95 mask. Today it’s half that for a high-quality KN95.

The big positive difference between April and today is that there is neither an urgent need nor a shortage of PPE in most ERs and ICUs in the country.

There is, however, a shortage or rationing of PPE in most “second-line” medical depts and clinics in the country.

When these second-line medical depts and clinics find themselves in a hot-spot, this shortage and rationing of hospital-supplied PPE becomes an urgent need.

That’s where we try to help.

More and more, the urgent need is coming from poor and rural counties.

Covid is now endemic in the US, meaning that it is *everywhere*. We’ve sent PPE to 47 states.

Covid is no longer just a big city thing, where lots of journalists see it. Covid is now ravaging towns like Nacogdoches and Montgomery, where no one sees it.

epsilontheory.com/self-assured-d…

Trickle-down PPE supply from these giant federal and state stockpiles is designed for big city and big hospital system distribution. It never gets to the second-line medical dept. It never gets to the rural county clinic or EMTs.

Just like trickle-down economics.

We can’t change the trickle-down nature of gov’t, not in time to help with the current crisis.

What we can do, though, is produce PPE on a wartime footing so that the trickle-down becomes a flood-down AND so that add’l gov’t distribution channels are opened.

Like to schools!

The effective monopoly that 3M enjoys on N95 mask production in this country is a war crime. I’m not joking. Not even a little bit.

news.3m.com/English/3m-sto…

Making a high-quality N95 protection level mask is NOT difficult. This isn’t a freakin’ vaccine. It’s a woven specialty fabric with two behind-the-head elastic bands (not ear loops) and a metal band on the nose for proper fit. That’s it.

We could have invested in PPE production.

We could have protected our doctors and nurses and EMTs and teachers and essential workers with medical respirators for ALL.

Instead we’re giving $765 million to Kodak.

epsilontheory.com/the-grifters-c…

Our govt’s failure to provide PPE to the American people is its greatest betrayal of all.

It’s not too late. We can still arm ALL of our essential workers – from nurses to teachers to grocery clerks – for battle.

But it will take a mighty howl.

epsilontheory.com/we-the-people-…