Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic
[citation needed] One response was to improvise around shortages, producing supplies ranging from cloth masks to diagnostic tests to ventilators in home workshops, university laboratories, and rapidly repurposed factories.
[11] As COVID-19 spread in January 2020, China began blocking exports of various medical supplies, including N95 masks, booties, and gloves produced by factories on its territory.
[28][29][30] The US Strategic National Stockpile held no swabs, forcing reliance on commercial supplies, which were soon exhausted by the explosive growth in testing.
[31] The US had shortages, despite the fact that one domestic manufacturer increased production to 1 million swabs per day in March,[32] and the government funded it to build a new factory in May.
The Dutch health ministry recalled 600,000 face masks on 21 March for poor fit and dysfunctional filters despite them having a quality certificate.
[45] In mid-May, the European Commission suspended an order of 10 million Chinese masks after two countries reported receiving sub-standard products.
Initial shortages were such that some nurses at one New York City hospital resorted to wearing garbage bags as an alternative to unavailable protective clothing.
[55] In March 2020, Doctors' Association UK alleged that shortages were covered up through intimidating emails, threats of disciplinary action and work suspensions.
Malaysia-based Top Glove and its subsidiary TG Medical were accused of violations of workers' rights, leading U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to ban their products in July 2020.
[72] France instructed its remaining mask-producing factories to work 24/7 shifts, and to expand national production to 40 million masks per month.
[72] Countries such as the UK, France, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, China, India, and others initially responded to the outbreak by limiting or banning exports of medical supplies, including rescinding existing orders.
"[80][81] Ukraine lawmaker Andriy Motovylovets stated, "Our consuls who go to factories find their colleagues from other countries (Russia, USA, France, Germany, Italy, etc) who are trying to obtain our orders.
"[80] San Marino authorities said they arranged a bank transfer to a supplier in Lugano, Switzerland, to buy a half-million masks to be shared with Italian neighbours, but were outbid.
[citation needed] They collectively produced a total of at least 25 million face shields with techniques including 3D printing, laser cutting, and Injection molding.
[104] In early March, the UK government supported a strategy to develop herd immunity to COVID-19, drawing criticism from medical personnel and researchers.
[105] Spooked by wildly exaggerated forecasts by the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team[106] that the demand for intensive care beds would exceed the inventory by 7.5,[107] around 16 March, the UK government switched to a mitigation/suppression strategy.
This assessment led to Project Aura, a public-private initiative to design a $3,000 simple to mass-produce ventilator that could supply the Strategic National Stockpile.
Newport Medical Instruments won the contract, designing and prototyping (2011) the ventilators, and expecting to later profit by moving into the private market where competing devices were sold for $10,000.
In April 2012, Health and Human Services officials confirmed to the US Congress that the project was on schedule to file for market approval in late 2013, after which the device would go into mass-production.
Anesthetist Dr. Alan Gauthier from Ontario, Canada, demonstrated turning one single-patient ventilator into a nine-patient device thanks to a 2006 YouTube video by 2 doctors from Detroit.
[92] This and similar methods described for ventilator sharing used T-shaped tubes to split airflow and multiply the number of patients provided with respiratory support.
[112] Vallini contacted FabLab founder Massimo Temporelli, who invited Michele Faini, an expert in additive manufacturing and a research and development designer at Lonati SpA to join a 3D printing effort.
The central avenue of exploration was to abandon advanced features, including electronics and patient monitoring, to focus solely on respiration by pressured airflow.
[134][135] French President Emmanuel Macron announced a military hospital would be set up in the Grand-Est region, to provide up to 30 ICU beds.
[146] Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a form of pneumonia in which air sacs become filled with fluid leaking from the capillaries lungs.
[155] Increased demand for electronics coincided with semiconductor production disruptions, including a drought in Taiwan (impacting companies such as TSMC).
[164][165] Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment warned of shortages of their Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 video game consoles due to high demand and supply chain disruption.
Affected products included toilet paper, hand sanitiser, cleaning supplies, canned food,[170][171] freezers[172] and other household appliances,[173] sewing machines,[174] blood,[175] flour and baking yeast,[176][177] game consoles,[178][179] computers,[180] poultry,[181] and swimming pool chlorine.
[171][188] Essential supply locator sites and tools attempted to assist communities in finding local sources as online retailers stocked out.
[192] In the US, shortages and price increases of tampons and other feminine hygiene products were caused by supply chain disruptions, staffing problems, and raw material costs.
