A woman wearing a face mask walks on a street in Manhattan of New York, the United States, Jan. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)
"American mask manufacturers are getting whiplash, having gone from sleepy sector to mission-critical industry overnight -- only to see sales collapse before now being suddenly in demand again," media reported, noting that the sector might not be able to meet the urgent need.
NEW YORK, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. manufacturing sector is under pressure to step up its mask production capacity, as the Joe Biden administration's Wednesday announcement to distribute 400 million American-made N95 respirator masks to the public will draw down more than half of the national stockpile.
"American mask manufacturers are getting whiplash, having gone from sleepy sector to mission-critical industry overnight -- only to see sales collapse before now being suddenly in demand again," reported major U.S. news portal Axios, noting that the sector might not be able to meet the urgent need.
U.S. production of effective face masks cratered after demand plunged in summer 2021, leaving the country dependent on Chinese imports at a time when authentic masks are desperately needed, the American Mask Manufacturer's Association (AMMA) was quoted as saying.
A man wearing a face mask walks on a street in Manhattan of New York, the United States, Jan. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)
The federal government's stockpile of N95 masks totaled about 737 million before the announcement. Replenishing it with American-made masks will take time because U.S. producers shut down most of their manufacturing capacity after the nation's vaccination campaign led to the suspension of mask mandates, temporarily sapping demand.
Annualized N95 production capacity among the members of the AMMA has fallen 47 percent from 1.1 billion in May to 584 million in January. About 20 of the group's 30-some members have ended production, AMMA founder Lloyd Armbrust told Axios. "We laid off about 70 percent of our team," said Armbrust, also CEO of Texas-based mask maker Armbrust.
Giant manufacturers like 3M and Honeywell produce many of the legitimately made N95 masks sold in the United States, but most N95 production is located offshore, according to the AMMA, exposing the product to shipping delays. Some offshore sites have begun flying masks to the United States to get around port backlogs, according to the Axios report.
A woman wearing a face mask waits in line outside a store in a shopping center in New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States, Jan. 11, 2022. (Photo by Lan Wei/Xinhua)
Meanwhile, "the nation is being flooded with counterfeit N95s and KN95s that don't provide sufficient protection," said the report. At the same time, cloth masks are readily available, but they provide less protection against omicron than previous variants, and most producers have exited the business.
The Biden administration is currently seeking vendors capable of making 141 million N95 masks monthly "at a surge capacity," Department of Health and Human Services official Dawn O'Connell told a Senate committee last week. Contracts are expected to be awarded in January or February, she testified.
"We already have supplied federal and state governments with hundreds of millions of N95s for stockpiles for this purpose, and we will replenish them as needed," 3M spokesperson Jennifer Ehrlich was quoted as saying in an email. ■
