
Facebook donates emergency reserve of 720k masks - donarb
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-facebook-masks/facebook-donates-emergency-reserve-of-720000-masks-due-to-coronavirus-outbreak-idUSKBN21911E
======
Aloha
To all who are wondering why Facebook had masks -

“To help, Facebook donated our emergency reserve of 720,000 masks that we had
bought in case the wildfires continued,”

~~~
epistasis
Which is enough for 14 days for ~50,000 people at 1/day. It seems like huge
overkill when stated as a single number, but two weeks is a reasonable amount
to plan for, especially for reserves at a time when the supply chain is
stressed.

I wish our hospitals' administration had as much foresight. I think this
crisis is making it clear that management in health care is vastly overpaid.

~~~
nprz
It truly is insane how quickly the severity of the crisis ramped up. Monday
co-workers on slack were messaging how the flu was more of a worry, after
Wednesday it was mandatory work from home. And it truly feels like medical
authorities were as caught off guard as the rest of us. Who was on guard duty?
Was no one monitoring the situation? No one thought to increase production of
PPE or RNA tests?

~~~
epistasis
I think this single news story is the best answer to your question:

[https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/25/trump-
coronavirus-n...](https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/25/trump-coronavirus-
national-security-council-149285)

My other comment on this was flagged, which had far more links. I'm not 100%
sure why it was flagged other than the voting revealed it to be very
controversial.

------
tuna-piano
It seems many companies, prudently, had stocks of masks for their employees.
Mastercard donated 25k masks and Goldman Sachs 20k[1].

My question is why the US government didn't have a bigger stockpile of them?
We treat national security products with such deference, but yet defense
against pandemics has been an afterthought.

[1][https://www.wsj.com/articles/financial-institutions-share-
st...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/financial-institutions-share-stockpiles-
of-face-masks-with-nyc-hospitals-11584479352)

~~~
tedunangst
They were used up for swine flu and never restocked.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/face-masks-
in-...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/face-masks-in-national-
stockpile-have-not-been-substantially-replenished-
since-2009/2020/03/10/57e57316-60c9-11ea-8baf-519cedb6ccd9_story.html)

------
mk4
As an Australian the only reason I had masks was because of the fires as well.
I think it is still not a part of our culture like in other countries to wear
them.

------
tedk-42
Nice. Our company also had bought masks for the bushfires here in NSW
Australia which they handed out.

Sadly there weren't enough for everyone, even before this hoarding craze
began.

------
blackrock
Trump’s trade war also shot America in the foot.

It made it harder for hospitals to buy the N95 masks and other equipment from
China.

So to the Americans that voted in Trump to wage his disastrous trade war
against China, then this is partially your fault too.

------
robomartin
A note for those critical about donations not coming sooner:

It is important to understand hospitals and doctors could not legally use
industrial N95 masks. No hospital could accept them without exposing
themselves to massive litigation. I know this sounds stupid from outside the
US. Sadly, this is part of our reality.

The key that unlocked donations was President Trump. Upon learning of this
restriction he quickly put into place a release of liability for medical use
of industrial N95 masks. This will be in force until at least 2024.

Because of this companies, contractors, suppliers and individuals came forward
to donate masks. Apple donated a couple million units. I believe this might
easily unlock tens of millions of masks as companies evaluate their
inventories and continue to donate.

Commentary:

It is important to realize that the US healthcare system does not have an
insurance problem. Politicians would have you think this is the case. It is
not. The root cause of our high cost of healthcare, among other things, has to
do with the underlying and hidden costs of doing business. This issue of masks
is a simple example.

Hospitals, medical professionals and medical suppliers live in fear of greedy
attorneys going after them for anything from masks to more complex equipment.
This leads to major losses and costs and even legislation. And all of it
increases the costs of doing business.

After this virus runs its course we would be well served to review a number of
things, tort reform being a good idea. The other would be term limits for the
House and Senate, I think it is beyond obvious these institutions have gone
putrid to the very core.

It might also be rather strange to those outside the US to learn that in this
wonderful country doctors and nurses cannot legally provide their services
outside of the State where they are licensed. A doctor or nurse licensed in
California cannot see patients in, say, Maine. In other words, we are not a
country, we are a group of fenced-off kingdoms with some of the most
ridiculous rules one could possibly imagine.

Our doctors can travel to Africa and practice medicine, yet they can't go to
another State and do the same. How ridiculous is this?

That's just another element of our system that has to change. There's more, a
lot more. The onerous and massively expensive drug or medical device approval
process is another example.

Insurance is the last item in a very long list of issues we must address in
order to bring sanity to our healthcare system.

~~~
IAmEveryone
> The key that unlocked donations was President Trump. Upon learning of this
> restriction he quickly put into place a release of liability for medical use
> of industrial N95 masks.

President Trump did nothing except sign the law when it came to his desk. The
provision was in the “Second Coronavirus Package” that originated in the US
House of Representatives. It was written by Democratic lawmakers and sponsored
by Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat.

Here’s the law in question: [https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-
congress/house-bill/6201...](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-
congress/house-bill/6201/text)

This Link should take you directly to the relevant section about industrial
masks: [https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-
bill/6201...](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-
bill/6201/text#H4A1FCBAAF09E40FBA7E5CB7B15FA97B7)

Here’s the vote in the House:
[http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2020/roll102.xml](http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2020/roll102.xml)
All 40 “Nays” were Republican.

Here’s the Senate vote:
[https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_...](https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=2&vote=00076#position)
all votes against were, once again, Republicans.

It’s also unclear what type of masks Facebook had in stock. They might have
been of the medical variety for all we know. And even if not, there would not
have been liability anyway: it was _manufactures_ that were previously liable
when selling the wrong type of mask to health care workers. But in Facebook
donating masks, no manufacturer is part of the transaction.

I’ll not go through the rest of your half-truths, except to note that if you
believe any MD can see patients in “Africa” without going through some sort of
accreditation you’re wrong.

~~~
robomartin
> And even if not, there would not have been liability anyway: it was
> manufactures that were previously liable when selling the wrong type of mask
> to health care workers. But in Facebook donating masks, no manufacturer is
> part of the transaction.

Just noticed this. It's wrong.

Hospitals could not accept donations of industrial masks, or, more accurately,
they could not use them. This would expose them to potentially serious legal
liability. Simple example: Someone dies. Lawyers discover medical team member
were using using industrial masks they accepted from donations. They sue the
hospital, every doctor, nurse and practitioner in the hospital and perhaps
even whoever donated the masks.

How do I know this?

Well, as I mentioned elsewhere, my wife is a doctor and we have many doctors,
nurses and other medical practitioners in our circle. In addition to this, we
tried to donate many thousands of N95 masks from our own manufacturing
operation's inventory to our local hospitals. They were refused, citing, very
specifically "we cannot legally use industrial masks".

Once Trump went against Republicans in the House and Senate and signed the law
releasing liability until 2024 we got a call from the hospitals we had
contacted asking if the masks were still available. That's when we handed them
over.

This, sadly, is how our legal system works. This is reality.

BTW, I do believe it was the White House who asked for the industrial mask
exception to be included in the legislation. I don't have the time to go track
down this assertion, so take it for what it is.

------
battery_cowboy
Off topic: could HN make a rule that any questions that could be easily
answered from reading the article will result in a day ban? There are way too
many people here who didn't read this article ("why did they have so many
masks?") and half the comments could be removed if they had!

------
derision
The virus came from China. I don't see how that's wrong to say

~~~
pinkfoot
Of course you do.

~~~
nikolay
I also don't see wrong stating the origin of something - French wine, Spanish
wine, Chinese virus. I am Bulgarian and on the national TV, everybody calls it
"the Chinese virus". There no acts against the many Chinese living in
Bulgaria. Even doctors use it - Lyme disease, Marseilles fever, West Nile
virus, etc. So, it's a matter of mentality, not how you call the virus. It is
the same low-IQ crowd, which discriminate Americns from Chinese ancestry due
to some name!

~~~
pinkfoot
I see President Trump's tweet from 7:19 AM - Mar 27, 2020 after chatting to
President Xi now refers to "the CoronaVirus" and "the Virus".

[I am not sure about all the capitalisation - we aren't speaking German
(yet).]

------
dionian
I wish they would have done this a little bit sooner, but glad they are doing
it and no time like the present!

~~~
_asummers
[https://globalnews.ca/news/6715814/coronavirus-n95-masks-
ont...](https://globalnews.ca/news/6715814/coronavirus-n95-masks-ontario/amp/)

Ontario just found 55m yesterday. Finding stuff you don't use often in
warehouses is difficult.

------
justlexi93
I love the fact that rich people doesn't hesitate on helping ang sharing what
they have during the pandemic. If I am rich I will probably help as well. Let
us continue on praying for the world and people healing.

------
Havoc
The fact that they have emergency reserves of masks is in itself pretty wild.

~~~
nikolay
More like pretty irresponsible to keep them until up until the government said
they are gonna confiscate them.

~~~
zszugyi
Source on "the government said they are gonna confiscate them"?

~~~
nikolay
Just watch their update from today. Their said: "If you have a stash of masks,
we'll be knocking on your door."

~~~
IAmEveryone
Google: No results found for "If you have a stash of masks, we'll be knocking
on your door." The query without quotes also doesn’t show any relevant hits on
the first two pages.

Also: the Facebook story is from Sunday. It’s not very likely that it is a
reaction to a press conference on Monday, is it?

You and all the other Trump supporters should stop making stuff up and/or
learn to link to sources at least after being asked repeatedly to provide
them.

~~~
nikolay
I feel already damaged listening to Trump for over one hour. Watch the update
yourself and you will hear it 1:1. I do not want to go thru that torture
again! All his "update" could be compressed in one short paragraph.

Maybe one day I will propose a Trump compression algorithm as his vocabulary
is very limited and he keeps repeating the same nonsense a million times
hoping on inducing some hypnotonic effect in his low-IQ fans...

~~~
derision
Low-IQ is not a choice. Mocking people for having a lower IQ is the same as
mocking someone born without an arm or a leg or any other sort of genetic or
birth defect that one has no control over. Those who suffer from mental
retardation have low IQ. Should they not be spoken to in a way they can
understand? Trump recognizes that everyone in the country has vastly different
levels of intelligence, and speaks in a way that everyone can understand. I'm
not sure why that's a point of criticism other than someone who thinks their
natural intelligence somehow makes them better than others.

~~~
nikolay
You clearly understand I was not referring to people with medical conditions.
He doesn't say anything meaningful and definitely does not do it so that
people with disabilities can get him. If that was his strategy, he would speak
slowly, and not go in circles and confuse everybody, and force his people to
publish clarifications after all the confusion he brings us with his TV
appearances!

------
sumoboy
Some guy in accounting, "I forgot we bought all these masks last year, someone
tell our leader". Timing seems a little odd with the media clearly talking
about the shortage of masks for weeks and this comes out today.

------
blunte
For a comparison of scale, consider the (rare) healthcare worker [who does not
work just for money (and therefore does not actually need the day's or month's
wage) who still goes into work to help the sick during this time] to _the
Facebook_ who has built its wealth via very questionable means and is now
donating supplies it otherwise did not need.

Forgive my pessimism here, but I'm not impressed. Good that they did it, but
countless individuals of minimal means regularly give everything they can to
help their fellows without credit or reward.

~~~
ALittleLight
When someone does something good, I don't think it should be an impulse to
point out that others have done better. Donating supplies is useful. Facebook
should be lauded for that.

~~~
blunte
In isolation of actions, sure. But in the scope of Facebook's normal
actions...?

Are we so easily distracted by the sparkly costless action that they now take
that we forget the several known (and who knows how many unknown) deceptive
and harmful actions they have intentionally taken against us in pursuit of
money?

I'm not trashing them for doing something good. But just as I don't bow to the
guy on the street that puts his candy wrapper in the rubbish bin instead of
throwing it on the ground, I don't admire FB for giving out something they
already possessed and were not having a planned use of.

------
nikolay
Why was Facebook stashing so many masks? Anyway, if they didn't donate them,
the Goverment said they are gonna confiscate them, and this was already clear.

~~~
ci5er
> Anyway, if they didn't donate them, the Goverment said they are gonna
> confiscate them, and this was already clear.

There are going to be lawsuits going on for a decade because of the government
ordering things that they are not allowed to do.

~~~
toomuchtodo
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_immunity)
(Sovereign immunity)

~~~
ci5er
I know the concept. Schiff just tried to apply it to not having to reveal his
subpoenas.

But "Qualified" immunity is an adjunct concept.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Just pointing out it’s a steep hill to climb.

