Coronavirus Stokes Mask Production and Mass Confusion
With a scattershot approach to providing critical medical gear, China’s local governments are revealing cracks in the facade of efficiency.
Incompetence, unmasked.
Photographer: Justin Chin/BloombergFor factories to reopen, people to get back to work and the coronavirus to stop spreading, China needs tens of millions of face masks each day. And yet the country’s sprawling bureaucracy is sending out mixed messages about its ability to provide them. The repercussions have been felt even in Hong Kong, where throngs of panicked shoppers cleared the shelves of masks and, more perplexingly, toilet paper last week.
The world’s biggest mask producer is facing a severe shortage. Even running at full capacity, China can make only 20 million a day, nowhere close to meeting the needs of the 776 million who are slowly returning to work. As for prized surgical and N95 masks (which provide even more coverage), China can produce only about 2.2 million and 600,000 daily. The country has roughly 12 million medical professionals.