CrimsonPhantom
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Federal stockpile of N95 masks was depleted under Obama and never restocked
Quote:The national shortage of N95 respirator masks can be traced back to 2009 after the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, when the Obama administration was advised to replenish a national stockpile but did not, according to reports from Bloomberg News and the Los Angeles Times.
The Trump administration is scrambling to replenish a stockpile of protective medical gear for healthcare workers and patients as the coronavirus sweeps across the nation. N95 respirator masks are one of the most needed medical supplies amid the outbreak.
The George W. Bush administration published the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza plan in 2005, which called on the federal government to distribute medical supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile governed by the Health and Human Services Department in the event of an outbreak.
In 2009, the H1N1 outbreak hit the United States, leading to 274,304 hospitalizations, 12,469 deaths, and a depletion of N95 respirator masks.
A federally backed task force and a safety equipment organization both recommended to the Obama administration that the stockpile be replenished with the 100 million masks used after the H1N1 outbreak.
Charles Johnson, president of the International Safety Equipment Association, said that advice was never heeded.
“Our association is unaware of any major effort to restore the stockpile to cover that drawdown,” he said.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar reported last month that only 12 million N95 masks were available in the stockpile, “a tiny fraction of the 3.5 billion masks one of Azar’s deputies later testified the nation’s healthcare system would need,” the Los Angeles Times noted.
Bloomberg News reported similar findings last week, noting, "After the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009, which triggered a nationwide shortage of masks and caused a 2- to 3-year backlog [of] orders for the N95 variety, the stockpile distributed about three-quarters of its inventory and didn’t build back the supply.”
Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration had asked construction companies to "donate their inventory of N95 masks to your local hospital and forgo additional orders of those industrial masks” and the Defense Department would provide 5 million N95 masks and 2,000 ventilators to help bridge the gap.
Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker reported 35,225 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. as of Monday.
Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the administration’s coronavirus task force, said on Sunday that a quarter-million people had been tested for the virus, with 9 out of 10 people testing negative.
"The FDA is working with manufacturers around the company to come up with faster, more innovative tests," he said.
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03-24-2020 05:58 PM |
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usmbacker
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RE: Federal stockpile of N95 masks was depleted under Obama and never restocked
That idiot b#tch Susan Rice was ranting how Trump should be thrown out of office because of Covid-19. Has she ever commented on the number of dead by the Swine flu under her messiah's rule?
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03-24-2020 06:54 PM |
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Fort Bend Owl
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RE: Federal stockpile of N95 masks was depleted under Obama and never restocked
Serious question here - I don't remember the 2009 H1N1 crisis at all (and I would have been 45 then so I can't attribute that to being too young). If we went through 100 million N95 masks, that would have been close to 1 in 3 Americans basically wearing a mask. I certainly don't recall getting sick and if I did, it was so minor, I didn't even notice (which is admittedly what is happening right now with some people too).
Maybe my memory isn't what it used to be but I certainly don't remember seeing anyone wearing masks back then. I'm still at the same job as I was in 2009 and we had about 10 folks wearing masks at work today (generic stuff, probably none are N95's). You see a few folks here and there wearing masks on walks, in stores, etc.
But does anyone remember 1 in 3 folks wearing masks back then? Or even if it's not 1 in 3 (because medical workers are wearing a new mask every day), you still would have seen people wearing masks going about with their everyday lives back in 2009.
(This post was last modified: 03-24-2020 08:43 PM by Fort Bend Owl.)
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03-24-2020 08:43 PM |
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Kaplony
Palmetto State Deplorable
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RE: Federal stockpile of N95 masks was depleted under Obama and never restocked
(03-24-2020 08:43 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: Serious question here - I don't remember the 2009 H1N1 crisis at all (and I would have been 45 then so I can't attribute that to being too young). If we went through 100 million N95 masks, that would have been close to 1 in 3 Americans basically wearing a mask. I certainly don't recall getting sick and if I did, it was so minor, I didn't even notice (which is admittedly what is happening right now with some people too).
Maybe my memory isn't what it used to be but I certainly don't remember seeing anyone wearing masks back then. I'm still at the same job as I was in 2009 and we had about 10 folks wearing masks at work today (generic stuff, probably none are N95's). You see a few folks here and there wearing masks on walks, in stores, etc.
But does anyone remember 1 in 3 folks wearing masks back then? Or even if it's not 1 in 3 (because medical workers are wearing a new mask every day), you still would have seen people wearing masks going about with their everyday lives back in 2009.
We went through a ****-ton of them with the FD. Protocol required us to wear them on every respiratory related call, and any possible flu call.
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03-24-2020 09:08 PM |
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dfarr
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RE: Federal stockpile of N95 masks was depleted under Obama and never restocked
(03-24-2020 08:43 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: Serious question here - I don't remember the 2009 H1N1 crisis at all (and I would have been 45 then so I can't attribute that to being too young). If we went through 100 million N95 masks, that would have been close to 1 in 3 Americans basically wearing a mask. I certainly don't recall getting sick and if I did, it was so minor, I didn't even notice (which is admittedly what is happening right now with some people too).
Maybe my memory isn't what it used to be but I certainly don't remember seeing anyone wearing masks back then. I'm still at the same job as I was in 2009 and we had about 10 folks wearing masks at work today (generic stuff, probably none are N95's). You see a few folks here and there wearing masks on walks, in stores, etc.
But does anyone remember 1 in 3 folks wearing masks back then? Or even if it's not 1 in 3 (because medical workers are wearing a new mask every day), you still would have seen people wearing masks going about with their everyday lives back in 2009.
I worked in a major academic ER during that time and I don’t remember a big deal about it. I remember having different flu swabs, but nothing like this.
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03-24-2020 09:09 PM |
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SoMs Eagle
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RE: Federal stockpile of N95 masks was depleted under Obama and never restocked
Come on guys. It’s hard to buy some old stupid mask when you are landing a couple hundred billion in cash at the ayatollahs airport....
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03-24-2020 11:11 PM |
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wmubroncopilot
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RE: Federal stockpile of N95 masks was depleted under Obama and never restocked
(03-24-2020 08:43 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote: Serious question here - I don't remember the 2009 H1N1 crisis at all (and I would have been 45 then so I can't attribute that to being too young). If we went through 100 million N95 masks, that would have been close to 1 in 3 Americans basically wearing a mask. I certainly don't recall getting sick and if I did, it was so minor, I didn't even notice (which is admittedly what is happening right now with some people too).
Maybe my memory isn't what it used to be but I certainly don't remember seeing anyone wearing masks back then. I'm still at the same job as I was in 2009 and we had about 10 folks wearing masks at work today (generic stuff, probably none are N95's). You see a few folks here and there wearing masks on walks, in stores, etc.
But does anyone remember 1 in 3 folks wearing masks back then? Or even if it's not 1 in 3 (because medical workers are wearing a new mask every day), you still would have seen people wearing masks going about with their everyday lives back in 2009.
I got H1N1, was about 19yo. It was the worst flu I've ever had, although nothing rest and fluids couldn't take care of. Later read that it hit young people worse in many cases (not so much death, but normal symptoms) because apparently older people had some resistance from a similar strain in the past.
Anyway I don't recall any masks, but I imagine as Kaplony said it was mostly professionals using them, not people just walking the streets.
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03-25-2020 12:05 AM |
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