Trump Administration Orders 167 Million Face Masks From 3M for Coronavirus Pandemic -- 2nd Update
April 06 2020 - 7:14PM
Dow Jones News
By Alex Leary and Austen Hufford
President Trump said the government would buy nearly 167 million
masks from 3M Co. over the next three months, resolving a spat with
the industrial conglomerate over efforts to ramp up supply of gear
for frontline workers confronting the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Trump criticized 3M's mask-making efforts last week and
invoked the Defense Production Act against the company. That Korean
War-era law gives the president power to compel manufacturers to
make operational changes in the national interest. Health workers
across the country are running short on masks as well as the gowns,
ventilators and face shields they need to treat the sickest
patients with Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
An official said Monday that the Trump administration didn't
plan to take any further action against 3M under the DPA in
addition to the mask purchases. The administration will purchase
55.5 million masks from 3M in each of the next three months, the
official said.
"The 3M saga ends very happily," Mr. Trump said at a briefing on
Monday evening. "We're very proud to be dealing now with 3M and its
CEO, Mike Roman. I just spoke with him and I thanked him for
getting it done."
Mr. Roman had pushed back against Mr. Trump's criticism last
week, telling The Wall Street Journal that his company was doing
everything possible to increase mask production.
3M, which confirmed the purchase, has doubled its production of
masks in recent months to about 100 million N95 masks globally each
month, including 35 million in the U.S. 3M said last week that it
would raise production in the U.S. to a monthly rate of 40 million
within weeks, and that it would also import 10 million masks from
its operations in China with the administration's help.
Other manufacturers including Honeywell International Inc. are
also raising mask output in the U.S. The Department of Health and
Human Services estimated in March that the U.S. would need about
300 million N95 masks a month to confront a pandemic.
The Trump administration's order with 3M, for 166.5 million face
masks total, includes respirators that are approved under the
typical N95 standard -- so called because those masks block 95% of
very small particles -- as well as orders for products certified
under a similar standard used in China known as KN95.
These respirators are in high demand because they are designed
to keep health-care workers safe. Surgical masks and even simpler
cotton masks are intended to prevent the spread of disease from
wearers.
Mr. Trump, who was initially reluctant to invoke the DPA, has
also invoked it to compel companies to work faster to make
ventilators. General Motors Co. and General Electric Co. are among
companies working to produce more ventilators in the U.S.
Write to Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com and Austen Hufford at
austen.hufford@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 06, 2020 18:59 ET (22:59 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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