Thread by @AbraarKaran

Remember that the Korean government literally bought 80% of the nation’s KF94 masks (N95 equivalent) & shipped them to pharmacies at a discounted price to make sure the general public had access to #BetterMasks— in MARCH 2020.

#covid19 @POTUS
nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opi…

2/ “As Koreans learned of the scale and aggressiveness of #Covid19, first from Chinese reports, then from a surge of cases at home, the mask with the weave and construction that proved most effective against the virus could not be found, except at exorbitant prices online.”

Cc @RanuDhillon @sri_srikrishna @linseymarr @MonicaGandhi9 @zeynep @jeremyphoward @meganranney @getusppe @ashishkjha @Atul_Gawande

3/ “Such was the extent of the “mask crisis” when the central government decided to intervene in production and distribution. At the end of February, it announced that it would purchase 50 percent of KF-94 masks from the nation’s 130 or so manufacturers.”

4/ “On March 5, the government increased its share of mask purchases to 80% of national production...South Korea and Taiwan responded to their mask crises with significant market interventions. America needs to do the same.”

This op-ed was from April 1, 2020. #covid19