- Michael Bowen, owner of manufacturing company Prestige Ameritech, volunteered to produce millions of N95 masks for the US government in January, The Washington Post reported.
- The US government turned down Bowen's offer to ramp up production amid the
coronavirus pandemic after a chain of emails between him and senior officials at the Department of Health and Human Services. Healthcare workers are still facing severe shortages of medical supplies, and some have even resorted to reusing N95 masks to protect themselves from COVID-19 as they work.- Corporate giants like Ford, Apple, and Tesla have since stepped in to help manufacture respirators, ventilators, and masks.
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The US government turned down an offer to produce up to 1.7 million N95 masks per week in January, or right after the first detected coronavirus case in America, according to email threads and whistleblower complaints acquired by The Washington Post.
On January 22, Michael Bowen, owner of the largest surgical mask and respirator manufacturer Prestige Ameritech, wrote an email to top officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and volunteered to give them "first dibs" to medical supplies.
"We are the last major domestic mask company," Bowen wrote. "My phones are ringing now, so I don't 'need' government business. I'm just letting you know that I can help you preserve our infrastructure if things ever get really bad. I'm a patriot first, businessman second."
Nevertheless, the US government did not take Bowen's offer following email communications that lasted several days with senior officials including Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and emergency response, according to the Washington Post.
As of April 16, the federal government has roughly 12 million N95 respirators and 30 million surgical masks in its national emergency stockpile, Business Insider's Tyler Sonnemaker previously reported. That's less than 1% of the 3.5 billion estimated masks we need this year.
Healthcare workers are desperate for face masks
N95 masks are crucial for public health, but especially in healthcare settings.
Health and human services Secretary Alex Azar previously said at a Senate subcommittee meeting that the US needs at least 300 million more masks to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
As the US has reached the fourth month since its first detected case of coronavirus, healthcare workers are still facing severe shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and critical medical supplies, Business Insider previously reported. The CDC reported that more than 9,200 American healthcare professionals have contracted the coronavirus in the past two months, and thousands of those workers have died.
Doctors and nurses have even resorted to reusing their N95 masks. It is unclear whether these masks are safe for people to use more than once.
Corporate giants are stepping in to meet the demand
Amid the medical supply shortages during the coronavirus pandemic, major manufacturing companies are stepping in to help.
For example, Ford announced on March 24 that it is partnering up with 3M, General Electric, and United Auto Workers to produce respirators, ventilators, and plastic medical face shields. A growing list of tech billionaires like Apple's Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, and Tesla's Elon Musk also pledged to donate medical supplies to hospitals, Business Insider previously reported.
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