
Elon Musk: Should Have 1000 Ventilators Next Week, 250k N95 Masks Tomorrow - vpj
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/03/21/elon-musk-should-have-1000-ventilators-next-week-250k-n95-masks-for-hospitals-tomorrow-cleantechnica-exclusive/
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kungito
You gotta love the the extremes that I always hear about only from either the
USA or China. I know that most of Europe will never have a self made
billionaire making 250k n95 masks in a matter of days, but then again we wont
have so many people dieing or going completely broke from a few visits to the
hospital which is going to be very common with coronavirus. I considered
taking a FAANG job in SV which I guess helps avoid most of the issues everyone
has with the USA but I cannot imagine being middle class with all the issues
we keep hearing about like hospital bills, guns and shootings, homelessness,
prisons, civil forfeiture etc.

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dukodk
I’m pretty sure they’re not making masks, they just have a stock of them.
Paint shops usually use alot of them. SpaceX might be able to help with
engineering and manufacturing of ventilators.

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JCharante
Yeah no way they're making 250k n95 masks when China is only able to produce
600k of them.

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jml7c5
With regard to the 250k masks, it sounds like they're just distributing the
ones they already had, not manufacturing new ones.

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seemslegit
"The masks include the lightweight ones that people like to wear in the hope
of protection against coronavirus"

Love the subtle way of suggesting the effectiveness of those.

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sjg007
Masks work. We will all be wearing masks for months when they can finally
distribute enough. In the meantime make your own mask and save the medical
masks for health care workers.

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seemslegit
Oh they totally do - it's just that everyone is more protected by the masks
other people wear not the one they wear themselves.

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TheAdamist
According to npr there is a shortage of melt blown fabric to make the masks,
and it takes six months to build the machine to produce such product. I'm
skeptical of all these places claiming to produce masks, that they are
actually the quality and performance they claim.

[https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/16/8149292...](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/16/814929294/covid-19-has-
caused-a-shortage-of-face-masks-but-theyre-surprisingly-hard-to-mak)

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burfog
Melt-blown fabric is not a requirement. It's just what we have been using. It
is good enough for the job, and it is really cheap if you already have the
machines.

There are types of aerogel that are flexible. When created with embedded fiber
for strength, it works great. Setting up the equipment would not be too
difficult. The filtration is far better than with melt-blown fabric.

We have many more options if we don't insist on flexible fabric. Gas masks
commonly use canister filters. With that style we can use a rigid filter. It
could be sintered glass, sintered ceramic, sintered metal, metal foam,
aerographene, aerographite, graphene foam, or diatomaceous earth. We could
even go electronic, with a UV light.

Materials with high air flow resistance are usable if we add a blower. There
is a doctor in China doing this in a makeshift way, with a HEPA filter on his
hip and a plastic bag over his head. An advantage is that it protects the
eyes, which are an infection path for the virus. Eye protection needs air flow
to prevent fogging and because eyes actually require air.

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Fjolsvith
If there's one good thing that comes out of this crisis, it will be that the
medical infrastructure will vastly be more capable of handling future
outbreaks.

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tyingq
Might trigger some rivalry with other prominent rich people and trigger more
productive work and donations. Good for him.

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pensatoio
I just realized Musk is probably doing this, in part, to keep the factories
operational and seek favor with the political powers that be. I have nothing
wrong with that, per se, I just find it interesting.

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vpj
[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1241056851032043523?s=20](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1241056851032043523?s=20)

>>> That won’t work for our auto parts suppliers, so, no, our US factory can’t
stay open

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foepys
Humble words after the government needed to threaten police action before
Tesla finally followed the shutdown order for their Fremont plant.

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sschueller
I hope he doesn't force people back to work at his factories until they have
the masks they need to paint cars etc. that he is now giving away. He will
have a shortage as well.

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biolurker1
Somehow panic wasn't dumb

