Where are the Masks?

[CAA Flagship]

"Tough sell". I say bullshit. We (my company) spend MILLIONS each year on compliance, duplicate systems, redundancies, etc., etc. just so we can be prepared for shit like this.

Mismanagement and then blaming the government. It's become the American way. Perhaps the DOH&HS (or whatever gov't entity oversees this shit) needs to get their shit together and start auditing hospitals to make sure they're prepared for the bi-annual pandemic that seems to sweep the globe.

I guess the point is how can you prepare for a pandemic when you don't know what you'll need in terms of equipment and technology? Do you really think hospitals should just have dozens of ventilators held in reserve or something? If you think healthcare costs are high now, wait til you have to pay more for that shit. Again, I''m talking equipment, not protective gear. I agree that protective gear can be held in reserve and the cost is much more minimal as compared to MRI machines and ventilators.

We (the bank) have redundancies as well, but they don't sit still waiting for something, they are actively used until something has to fail over or whatever the case is.

You can't stockpile for a 100year (or greater) event, especially if items have a shelf-life (masks). But what should be done is agreements with manufacturers to be able to increase production (if they make those items originally) or modify their process for production (if they don't normally make them) to the extent determined. This doesn't have to be done by individual hospitals, but by groups such as companies that operate several hospitals, or by locale, or by state, or by region.
Hoping that companies will decide to modify their production capabilities on the fly is poor planning.

Regulations require that active agreements be in place for response to releases of liquids such as stored chemicals/oil/fuel/etc. that are commensurate to the amount your site stores. The nice thing is that you know how much you store, but you don't know the extent of the spread which is where the guesswork comes in regarding response capabilities. To a certain extent, government response such as HAZMAT teams or the Coast Guard may be involved, but they are not to be the sole entity to rely on.

[Ibanez]

I guess the point is how can you prepare for a pandemic when you don't know what you'll need in terms of equipment and technology? Do you really think hospitals should just have dozens of ventilators held in reserve or something? If you think healthcare costs are high now, wait til you have to pay more for that shit. Again, I''m talking equipment, not protective gear. I agree that protective gear can be held in reserve and the cost is much more minimal as compared to MRI machines and ventilators.

We (the bank) have redundancies as well, but they don't sit still waiting for something, they are actively used until something has to fail over or whatever the case is.

You can't stockpile for a 100year (or greater) event, especially if items have a shelf-life (masks). But what should be done is agreements with manufacturers to be able to increase production (if they make those items originally) or modify their process for production (if they don't normally make them) to the extent determined. This doesn't have to be done by individual hospitals, but by groups such as companies that operate several hospitals, or by locale, or by state, or by region.
Hoping that companies will decide to modify their production capabilities on the fly is poor planning.

Regulations require that active agreements be in place for response to releases of liquids such as stored chemicals/oil/fuel/etc. that are commensurate to the amount your site stores. The nice thing is that you know how much you store, but you don't know the extent of the spread which is where the guesswork comes in regarding response capabilities. To a certain extent, government response such as HAZMAT teams or the Coast Guard may be involved, but they are not to be the sole entity to rely on.

This makes sense.

[AZGrizFan]

We have redundant core systems. At the cost of millions of dollars per year. Sitting there going unused for the most part, waiting for something "bad" to happen. Is it right for a hospital to just expect the "system" to suddenly shit ventilators at a moment's notice when it needs them en masse?

I'm curious, what systems exactly? If it's the cloud, then I see your point. But a lot of tech can be dual purpose or used at low capacity in case you have to fail over to it. I just finished an RTO/RPO project this year and which is centered around this very subject. I'm also not naive enough to think that the way we are doing it is the best (we're better than some of our competitors.)

I don't know what systems, and wouldn't say even if I did. I just know that we have complete redundancy built into the system (at no small cost) to avoid catastrophes. Hospitals don't, then bitch because the benevolent government didn't "take care of them"?

Like I said, mismanagement at the highest levels, then blame the government when the shit hits the fan.

[AZGrizFan]

I guess the point is how can you prepare for a pandemic when you don't know what you'll need in terms of equipment and technology? Do you really think hospitals should just have dozens of ventilators held in reserve or something? If you think healthcare costs are high now, wait til you have to pay more for that shit. Again, I''m talking equipment, not protective gear. I agree that protective gear can be held in reserve and the cost is much more minimal as compared to MRI machines and ventilators.

We (the bank) have redundancies as well, but they don't sit still waiting for something, they are actively used until something has to fail over or whatever the case is.

You can't stockpile for a 100year (or greater) event, especially if items have a shelf-life (masks). But what should be done is agreements with manufacturers to be able to increase production (if they make those items originally) or modify their process for production (if they don't normally make them) to the extent determined. This doesn't have to be done by individual hospitals, but by groups such as companies that operate several hospitals, or by locale, or by state, or by region.
Hoping that companies will decide to modify their production capabilities on the fly is poor planning.

Regulations require that active agreements be in place for response to releases of liquids such as stored chemicals/oil/fuel/etc. that are commensurate to the amount your site stores. The nice thing is that you know how much you store, but you don't know the extent of the spread which is where the guesswork comes in regarding response capabilities. To a certain extent, government response such as HAZMAT teams or the Coast Guard may be involved, but they are not to be the sole entity to rely on.

Why does a mask have a shelf life?

[Aho Old Guy]

Those dollar N95 masks are for for 5 years ... then they become N75s ... then N40s

There are some really fancy respirators out there --- Scot air-pacs are only good for 3 years (I think).

[CAA Flagship]

Why does a mask have a shelf life?

Degradation mostly.

https://workersafety.3m.com/why-do-disp ... helf-life/

[BDKJMU]

Todays press conference, Pence said 8 million N95 masks and
13.3 million surgical masks enroute from FEMA to the states.

Past 96 hrs FEMA has received donations of 6.5 million masks.

There are a lot of people out there sewing masks and sending them to hospitals. My wife and her friends in Houston and Charlotte have all gotten together to do just this. It's better than nothing.


Btw, BDK - how many N95 masks did you buy before this shit went south?

1 medical N95 that's probably expired, and a couple from Home Depot for sanding. Box of gloves. Obtained a handful of surgical masks, but gave to GF's mom who is high risk.That's it. One area of prepper preparedness that was lacking for me.

GF's friend's husband is a nurse at a hospital in NJ. He apparently bought a sewing machine and was making them.

[CAA Flagship]

I guess the point is how can you prepare for a pandemic when you don't know what you'll need in terms of equipment and technology? Do you really think hospitals should just have dozens of ventilators held in reserve or something? If you think healthcare costs are high now, wait til you have to pay more for that shit. Again, I''m talking equipment, not protective gear. I agree that protective gear can be held in reserve and the cost is much more minimal as compared to MRI machines and ventilators.

We (the bank) have redundancies as well, but they don't sit still waiting for something, they are actively used until something has to fail over or whatever the case is.

You can't stockpile for a 100year (or greater) event, especially if items have a shelf-life (masks). But what should be done is agreements with manufacturers to be able to increase production (if they make those items originally) or modify their process for production (if they don't normally make them) to the extent determined. This doesn't have to be done by individual hospitals, but by groups such as companies that operate several hospitals, or by locale, or by state, or by region.
Hoping that companies will decide to modify their production capabilities on the fly is poor planning.

Regulations require that active agreements be in place for response to releases of liquids such as stored chemicals/oil/fuel/etc. that are commensurate to the amount your site stores. The nice thing is that you know how much you store, but you don't know the extent of the spread which is where the guesswork comes in regarding response capabilities. To a certain extent, government response such as HAZMAT teams or the Coast Guard may be involved, but they are not to be the sole entity to rely on.

Was thinking about this a bit more.
I guess there are Urgent Cares and physicians offices that need these masks too. It's likely they buy their supplies from a supplier, rather than direct from a manufacturer. In this case, you have to require that the supplier has open agreements with manufacturers for the acquisition of supplies in high demand. Either way, I still haven't seen a good argument as to where it's the Federal Government's responsibility to have a stockpile to meet this demand.

[LeadBolt]

I have a friend who runs a ventilator factory in PA. Their production is being slowed because of supply chain issues getting parts from India.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mainejeff]

I have a friend that runs a ventilator factory too!

[BDKJMU]

Cuomo this week: "you can’t find available ventilators no matter how much you’re willing to pay right now, because there is literally a global run on ventilators.”
Cuomo in 2015: We don't need more ventilators.
https://nypost.com/2020/03/19/we-didnt- ... -pandemic/

[mainejeff]

Cuomo this week: "you can’t find available ventilators no matter how much you’re willing to pay right now, because there is literally a global run on ventilators.”
Cuomo in 2015: We don't need more ventilators.
https://nypost.com/2020/03/19/we-didnt- ... -pandemic/

Jan. 22: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” — Trump in a CNBC interview.

[Ibanez]

Cuomo this week: "you can’t find available ventilators no matter how much you’re willing to pay right now, because there is literally a global run on ventilators.”
Cuomo in 2015: We don't need more ventilators.
https://nypost.com/2020/03/19/we-didnt- ... -pandemic/

Yeah, because the situation 4 years ago is still the same today.

Do you want to bring out Trumps greatest hits on the virus? B/c it's a hoot.