Kansas City Star - Nationwide N95 Respirator Shortage
The kind of mask that does keep out the flu is called a respirator and has a filtering rating of N95 from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
These disposable masks are an important protection for health care providers who deal every day with lots of patients with infectious diseases.
But manufacturers haven’t been able to make them fast enough to keep up with demand, said J.P. Sankpill, president of U.S. Safety, a Lenexa-based manufacturer and supplier of protective equipment.
Sankpill’s factory in Lenexa makes air purifying respirators with replaceable filters. They afford the same protection as disposable respirators but are designed for repeated use. U.S. Safety also sells regular N95 respirators from other manufacturers.
“As it stands right now, there are lots of hospitals running out or that have run out of N95 respirators,” Sankpill said.
The federal government had estimated in 2007 that billions more of these disposable masks would be needed during a pandemic, but it hasn’t done anything to help manufacturers build up their production capacity, Sankpill said.
The Kansas City Star, October 25th, 2009 - by Alan Bavley
Full Story: Sales of hand sanitizer and face masks rise as fear of H1N1 increases