Trump spent the weekend bragging about Hanes making medical masks, but the masks that they will be making aren’t medical-grade respirators.
Trump claimed on Sunday that he did not need to invoke the Defense Production Act because Hanes is making masks, “But I’ll tell you why — as Peter said, we may have to use it someplace along the chain, but we’re getting calls. Here’s the beauty of it: If we go out and we want, let’s say, masks, we don’t know who to call on masks. But Hanes, who makes things of cotton — various elements, lots of things; it’s a great company — they called us and they said, We’re going to make millions of masks.”
The problem is that those masks are made of underwear fabric.
Via The New York Times:
Anderson Warlick, the chief executive of the textile company Parkdale Mills, said Mr. Navarro had called him early last week to ask what the company could make. By Saturday, Parkdale Mills joined Hanes, Fruit of the Loom and other companies in announcing a coalition to produce masks.
But they are not the kind hospitals most need. The new masks will be made of a three-ply underwear fabric, and do not provide the level of protection given by the N95 masks that health care workers need for intubation and other procedures.
Hanes simply can’t produce the N95 masks that medical people need to treat coronavirus patients. CEO’s of big corporations have been lobbying Trump not to invoke the Defense Production Act because they are worried about profits.
Instead of giving doctors and hospitals the equipment that they need, Trump is providing underwear masks that won’t prevent the spread of the virus.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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