PPE acquisition difficulties

[jesmu84]

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/hospitals-face-a-white-house-blockade-for-coronavirus-ppe.html

[Chili]

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/hospitals-face-a-white-house-blockade-for-coronavirus-ppe.html

This happened to my companies PPE that was ordered of our employees. FEMA grabbed it.

[GooooMarquette]

That is absolutely crazy. I could see if the government was redirecting masks and other PPE from non-healthcare providers, to make sure hospitals get what they need. But coming in to take it from hospitals?!?

[Jockey]

I’m guessing the private companies that receive the PPE to re-sell to states all either are donors or have some other connection to trump.

This stuff is criminal. People - trump included - need to see the inside of a cell.

[rocky_warrior]

I’m guessing the private companies that receive the PPE to re-sell to states all either are donors or have some other connection to trump.

This stuff is criminal. People - trump included - need to see the inside of a cell.

Take it easy. That's a lot of speculation. Unless you have sources...

[Goose]

Jockey


You are incorrect on your “guessing”. Not to show you up, but I have been actively involved on the PPE sourcing side of things and your assumption is incorrect. Locally in MKE, nearly every person that has reached up for help has been on the other side of the aisle of Trump.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I have been on the selling side of components for PPE and customers are finally started placing POs last week.
Everyone is trying to make their own version of an N95 mask.

Too many people don't understand the concept of lead time even when expediting things faster than normal.

[Goose]

MU Fan

Can you help me find raw material for N95 mask?

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

MU Fan

Can you help me find raw material for N95 mask?

Goose,
Only aluminum flat wire for the nose fit since my company makes. 

Companies are stretching what they make to make masks.  I've spoken with a textile manufacturer, a car mat manufacturer, an awning manufacturing, a company that makes baby wipes/coffee filters/cupcake paper cups among other comapnies.

[Goose]

MU Fan

Lol. We have seen every type of manufacturer become a PPE supplier overnight and have told 99.99% to pound sand. I believe far too much uncertified product made to USA, and worse, most grossly overpaid.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

MU Fan

Lol. We have seen every type of manufacturer become a PPE supplier overnight and have told 99.99% to pound sand. I believe far too much uncertified product made to USA, and worse, most grossly overpaid.

To your point, locally, Yale is testing items before purchase.
Yale tests effectiveness of non-N95 masks for hospital workers
Photo of Justin Papp
Justin Papp April 19, 2020 Updated: April 20, 2020 7:28 a.m.

NEW HAVEN — A team at Yale has devised a system to test the reliability of non-standard masks donated to Yale-New Haven Hospital.

The group, which is comprised of researchers from the School of Engineering & Applied Science and the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, is working to address the shortage of N95 masks for medical workers. Testing measures the fit and filtration capabilities of masks, with the goal in mind that those that are most effective could be used with COVID-19 patients by medical professionals at Yale New Haven Hospital.

“With the regular supply chains being impacted by all kinds of things, mostly political, we can’t easily get in we normally get for N95 respirators, which are the important kind of masks that filter viral particles and protect health care workers,” said Dr. Lisa Lattanza, chief of orthopedic surgery at Yale New Haven Hospital and chairwoman of the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation.

Lattanza said that as the novel coronavirus began to run its course in Connecticut, the hospital had recently received donations of large quantities of masks from alumni associations, primarily located in places like China, where supplies were still available.

Under normal circumstances, federally tested N95 masks would be used in a hospital setting. But the pandemic has caused a shortage of the masks, which filters out at least 95 percent of fine airborne particles, forcing hospitals to rely on other, less effective masks.

“Some of the masks that have come in have been internationally sourced and don't have a NIOSH certification,” said School of Engineering & Applied Science Deputy Dean Vincent Wilczynski, referring to the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, overseen by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Protection.

A speedy test of the donated masks’ effectiveness was needed, just as leaders from Yale were convening to brainstorm responses to the pandemic.

“With things moving so quickly, and supplies so short, it became much more efficacious to set up our own lab,” Lattanza said.

At the end of March, a team was assembled to design a system to address the problem, led by Lawrence Wilen, senior research scientist at the Center for Engineering Innovation & Design (CEID), and associate research scientist Kate Schilling.

The group used equipment donated from the labs of Juan de la Mora, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, Drew Gentner, associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering and Krystal Pollitt, assistant professor of epidemiology and chemical and environmental engineering.

“I think in collaboration between Yale New Haven and the rest of university, it became clear that there might be a role for the school of engineering, leveraging our expertise in particle filtration and filters, to look at masks,” Gentner said.

[Skatastrophy]

I have been on the selling side of components for PPE and customers are finally started placing POs last week.
Everyone is trying to make their own version of an N95 mask.

Too many people don't understand the concept of lead time even when expediting things faster than normal.

3M has been suing companies that produce N95 masks that are similar to theirs during this crisis. I understand that you need to protect your patents, but I wish they'd find a way to license that crap out during this pandemic.

[GooooMarquette]

3M has been suing companies that produce N95 masks that are similar to theirs during this crisis. I understand that you need to protect your patents, but I wish they'd find a way to license that crap out during this pandemic.

Seems like a simple public notice on their website - granting a one-time, limited-time exception for use of their technology for any company producing PPE for healthcare workers or first responders - would do the trick.

No court in America would take away their patents for granting that exception.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

3M has been suing companies that produce N95 masks that are similar to theirs during this crisis. I understand that you need to protect your patents, but I wish they'd find a way to license that crap out during this pandemic.

We've reached out to our contacts at 3M (we've made wire for another division previously) and they have passed along our info to their appropriate counterpart Purchasing Persons but they seem set with their existing supplier base.

Most of those I have spoken with only plan to provide to their geographic area.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

German doctors pose naked in protest at PPE shortages
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/27/german-doctors-pose-naked-in-protest-at-ppe-shortages

BeeJay will like all the naked men

[4everwarriors]

I have an unlimited budget for PPE to protect my patients and staff. Yet, I spend an inordinate amount of time each day searching for gear, ordering, reordering canceled backorders. Its fookin' frustratin', aina?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

This would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic.

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-profit-and-incompetence-delayed-n95-masks-while-people-died-at-the-va

[jesmu84]

https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-coronavirus-task-force-prioritized-ppe-trump-associates-nyt-2020-5?fbclid=IwAR01qY4r19uf5TApu3UBEAu8XFpByjVYdbjXBhLjjF2schVO0hre837x45k

Jared saving the day again

[Hards Alumni]

https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-coronavirus-task-force-prioritized-ppe-trump-associates-nyt-2020-5?fbclid=IwAR01qY4r19uf5TApu3UBEAu8XFpByjVYdbjXBhLjjF2schVO0hre837x45k

Jared saving the day again

*profiteering

[TSmith34, Inc.]

We've come to the point where states have to hide their equipment, like in Maryland, from this administration. After being told to procure PPE themselves, it then get seized.

I like any of the conservative members of the board to explain how this is acceptable.

Outstanding leadership in action.

Feds Intercept Loudoun-bound PPE Shipment
https://loudounnow.com/2020/05/06/feds-intercept-loudoun-bound-ppe-shipment/

“The federal government and President Trump continues to tell states and localities they are responsible for getting their own PPE, and they undermine that by outbidding and taking PPE,” Randall said. “… How about they get a daggone federal response that actually works instead of this piecemeal approach that they have that actually is not helping anyone, and outbidding localities? That is infuriating.”

[TSmith34, Inc.]

https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-coronavirus-task-force-prioritized-ppe-trump-associates-nyt-2020-5?fbclid=IwAR01qY4r19uf5TApu3UBEAu8XFpByjVYdbjXBhLjjF2schVO0hre837x45k

Jared saving the day again

You don't feel good about Jared delegating leadership to Ivanka's 27-year-old assistant?