View Full Version : 35,000,000 3M N95 Masks Found?
This just don't smell right...
Union Locates 39 Million N95 Masks for Healthcare Workers, Local Governments
By Bay City News • Published March 26, 2020 • Updated on March 26, 2020 at 11:09 am
Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West announced Thursday that it located 39 million N95 masks and will make them available to state and local governments and health care systems that are fighting the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The union found a distributor with the masks, which are cleared for surgical use, after pleas from health care workers as new coronavirus cases surge across the state and the country as a whole.
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/coronavirus/seiu-locates-39-million-n95-masks-for-healthcare-workers-local-governments/2262072/
Congratulations to the union for the effort,, I think
To the distributor: What in hell are you doing??
My civilian background: I had a 30yr career in designing inventory control, accounts receivable/billable/ledger, product distribution pipeline and marketing.
The problem:
Every medical physicality, medical products supplier and manufactor in the USA (nee the world) is desperate for masks.
There is a distributor sitting on 35,000,000 masks.
N95 info:
N95 mask retail for about 7.00usd and wholesale for 1.50usd.
This distributor was sitting on 52 to 245 MILLION DOLLARS of inventory.
Phytcily this represents a BUNCH of space. 3M bulk ships the N95 in pallets, 40 boxes of 160 each. This converts to 54,687 pallets and represents approx 120,000 sq ft of warehousing, stacked three high in shelving units. Most of the US warehousing buildings run from 10K to 100K SQ FT for bulk pallet storage.
3M has only 18 authorized distributors. (c attach PDF file)
The Stink:
This smells of hoarding and price gouging on a very large scale.
For each dollar of price increase, the distributor pockets 35,000,000USD.
The inference that someone FOUND the masks is ludicrous.
I also looked at something that could gauge usage of masks, It's not possible to be very accurate, as there are just too many variables. But based only on the number of ICU beds(approx 95,000) in the USA this hoard represents about 120 days supply @ 3 per shift. In reality probably more like 60days.
link: SCCM Critical Care Statistics (https://www.sccm.org/Communications/Critical-Care-Statistics)
Agree with your assessment.
Ret10Echo
03-27-2020, 11:23
As has come up in other, related threads it has been noted that there are "counterfeit" products out there. Buyer beware.
R10
bblhead672
03-27-2020, 11:35
SEIU would never lie for their own benefit. I'm sure its on the up and up. :rolleyes:
SEIU would never lie for their own benefit. I'm sure its on the up and up. :rolleyes:
I'll say away from all the permutations of the whys and hows and intentions. :munchin
The Reaper
03-27-2020, 13:51
SEIU would never lie for their own benefit. I'm sure its on the up and up. :rolleyes:
Precisely. ;)
TR
Old Dog New Trick
03-29-2020, 11:00
21-million more masks have been found stockpiled in California. Only problem is they are beyond their “Best if used by date” apparently it’s just the rubber retention bands that could be weak.
https://apple.news/AZsr15BoeTfuECNUy_XOZkA
Article states the obvious, we are not prepared.
21-million more masks have been found stockpiled in California. Only problem is they are beyond their “Best if used by date” apparently it’s just the rubber retention bands that could be weak.
https://apple.news/AZsr15BoeTfuECNUy_XOZkA
Article states the obvious, we are not prepared.
Isn't the best if used by date a recommendation? Some common sense as to the viable use of these masks should come into play.
Old Dog New Trick
03-29-2020, 12:35
Isn't the best if used by date a recommendation? Some common sense as to the viable use of these masks should come into play.
It’s only the elastic band. So get cranking and sew on new elastic bands. How hard is this?
It’s only the elastic band. So get cranking and sew on new elastic bands. How hard is this?
They are not that smart. It is CA.:p:D
Badger52
03-29-2020, 13:02
Maybe this was part of the replenishment of the national stockpile that Obama's DHS was supposed to do after H5N1 or whatever...? Maybe SEIU gets the tip so they get a hero moment...? Who knows. Snag 'em, subject to inspection by someone who knows WTF they're doing.
:munchin
List of approved N95, hyperlinked alphabetically. (https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part/n95list1.html)
Seems the Union epiphany was more hot-air than substances??
I'm thinking Uncle Luca Brasi was involved?
Kapish? :munchin
Feds investigate aborted deal for 39 million coronavirus masks in California
A failed deal in California for millions of N95 masks has drawn the attention of a federal task force investigating coronavirus-related fraud, according to a report.
The health-care provider Kaiser Permanente says it is cooperating with the probe.
The deal fell through after a California health care workers’ union announced last month that it had found a supplier with 39 million N95 masks, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Service Employees International Union - United Healthcare Workers West went looking for the masks amid a growing shortage at hospitals treating coronavirus patients.
Kaiser spokesman Marc Brown told the Times Kaiser had growing questions about the supplier and backed out of an agreement to purchase 6 million of the masks.
“We learned shortly afterward that the supplier never had possession of the masks,” Brown said, according to the paper. “We are cooperating with federal law enforcement in their investigation of suspected fraud in this case.”
There was no indication SEIU was a target of the investigation, and the exact reasons why the masks didn’t come through remain unclear, the Times reported.
But the aborted arrangement marks the latest in a smoke-and-mirrors marketplace for equipment in short supply due to the onslaught of COVID-19 patients.
SEIU spokesman Steve Trossman told the Times the union “was trying to save the lives of healthcare workers and patients” and that union officials “were proud of having made that attempt.”
He said the name of the supplier had been turned over to a federal task force investigating suppliers of medical equipment related to COVID-19.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/feds-investigate-aborted-deal-for-39-million-coronavirus-masks-in-california
But the union got the up front good press.
I'd seen that a couple of days ago. The first stories made it sound like the masks were on hand.
This up date is more like "I know a guy who knows a guy who has....."
Ret10Echo
04-05-2020, 07:08
Everyone sees the false statement
No one ever sees the retraction...
So it goes.
Badger52
04-05-2020, 08:40
a California health care workers’ union...
Service Employees International Union - United Healthcare Workers WestTheir big constituent - the hospitality service industry workers in Vegas - will be so proud.
:rolleyes:
Took a couple of days, but the FBI nailed it and I think the story may have more illuminating bits after the grand jury talks to the union reps of SEIU 121RN... :lifter
FBI exposes coronavirus scam after 39M masks promised from overseas fail to reach California hospitals
The FBI uncovered an international coronavirus-fueled fraud scheme after more than 39 million masks promised to a powerful California union representing health-care workers were never delivered to hospitals and other medical groups in the state, according to a report published Saturday.
Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West announced on March 26 it had identified a distributor overseas who was willing to sell 39 million critically needed N95 masks, a press release said. The union said it secured the deal after 48 hours calling leads and potential suppliers to help find personal protective equipment for health-care workers on the front lines of the crisis.
An unidentified businessman in Pittsburgh reportedly was helping the union contact a broker in Australia and a distributor in Kuwait on WhatsApp to secure the deal, U.S.
“We believe we disrupted fraud,” Brady said. “We are seeing fraud in every variation, but mostly in respect to N95 masks. We have an anxious public, and resources are strained.”
As part of the deal, Kaiser Permanente said they planned to purchase 6 million masks. Sutter Health officials also placed an order for 2 million masks, the Times reported.
Meanwhile, SEIU 121RN, Southern California’s Union of Registered Nurses, launched an online petition accusing hospitals who did not agree to take part in the deal of “putting bottom line profits over your safety."
The FBI initially began to track the deal to determine if the 39 million masks should be intercepted for the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Defense Production Act. That’s when the investigators found fraud had been committed.
Kaiser Permanente said the seller had “repeatedly failed to provide reliable information about where we could verify and inspect the shipment.” Brady added that the broker in Australia told the middleman in Pittsburgh there was a warehouse in Georgia filled with 2 million of the masks.
The FBI found no such warehouse with the alleged stockpile. Meanwhile, the seller demanded a 40 percent payment upfront and planned to send Kaiser Permanente details on how to send the funds.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/fbi-coronavirus-scam-39m-masks-california-union-hospitals-kaiser-permanente
"...the broker in Australia told the middleman in Pittsburgh there was a warehouse in Georgia filled with 2 million of the masks..."
Sure the broker wasn't from Nigeria?
Badger52
04-12-2020, 18:58
"...the broker in Australia told the middleman in Pittsburgh there was a warehouse in Georgia filled with 2 million of the masks..."
Sure the broker wasn't from Nigeria?No kidding. That's laughable just to read. Not sure I'd have even used pink font.
Now about your stake in that bridge to the Devil's Triangle...