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This, like wearing masks, is the exact opposite of what the CDC was saying two months ago. https://twitter.com/markberman/status/1263811822630637569
There is a temptation to think "oh well, we know so little." And that is true. But if US agencies had paid attention to the other coronaviruses that caused mass outbreaks, like SARS and MERS, and considered them early templates, then mask use would have been obvious early.
As usual, the US always thinks we're independent from history and the rest of the globe. It would have been so easy to just use SARS as an early template to be safe. It's so tiresome we didn't, and in this case it really hurt and possibly killed a lot of people.
It's useful to add helpful reading and resources for those who are interested.
First, the issue was never consumer hoarding of masks, for two reasons:
1) consumer supplies were not enough to threaten hospitals
2) hospitals kept low stockpiles on hand for financial reasons
First, the issue was never consumer hoarding of masks, for two reasons:
1) consumer supplies were not enough to threaten hospitals
2) hospitals kept low stockpiles on hand for financial reasons
On the issue of consumer supplies: The masks that were requisitioned, globally, were in enormous scale. Your 200 masks at Home Depot were never going to help hospitals.
The mask supply chains in question were in the millions, and sold wholesale.
https://scm.ncsu.edu/scm-articles/article/where-are-all-the-n95-masks-a-supply-chain-dilemma
The mask supply chains in question were in the millions, and sold wholesale.
https://scm.ncsu.edu/scm-articles/article/where-are-all-the-n95-masks-a-supply-chain-dilemma
BTW: One could persuasively argue that intentionally lying about masks to save supplies, rather than lives, is medical malpractice and *certainly* a violation of the Hippocratic oath ("first, do no harm")
Hospitals were not just low on masks, they were low on all protective gear -- gowns, shields etc. That's bc hospitals order gear on a short-term basis for financial reasons, keep no stockpiles (for financial reasons) and thus were unready for a pandemic. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/healthcare-workers-coronavirus-masks-beds-tests
Fun fact: Hospitals were also unready for a pandemic because they are optimized to keep all beds full -- i.e., to have no extra capacity -- for financial reasons. The fact that hospitals were unready for a pandemic for profit reasons should be a MUCH larger scandal IMO.
We will recall that COVID was a serious problem for US hospitals because it forced them to focus on UNPROFITABLE care like, uh, not letting people die of a killer virus rather than elective surgeries.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/06/828108255/growing-costs-and-shrinking-revenues-squeeze-hospitals-as-they-brace-for-coronav https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-hospitals-need-more-beds/608677/
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/06/828108255/growing-costs-and-shrinking-revenues-squeeze-hospitals-as-they-brace-for-coronav https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-hospitals-need-more-beds/608677/
The CDC's intentional lying about masks early has caused an enormous breach of trust in Americans who now have to be skeptical of the agency's guidelines. All the people who endanger others by refusing to wear masks can cite the early CDC guidance. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-face-masks.html
The early lying -- and it WAS intentional lying -- from the CDC about masks was also unproductive because it wasn't just N95 masks that work. Any cloth mask (as we're wearing now!) could have been effective. This was established by precedent in Asia. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/should-we-be-promoting-the-widespread-use-of-masks/
To emphasize that point again: The CDC lied about the effectiveness of masks specifically to protect the supply of *N95* masks. But the agency could have said, "we know from SARS and MERS that all barrier help; try cloth masks instead."
