Today I learned that in 2015 the Obama administration authorized a set of machines that allowed "rapid pandemic mask production line". Basically instead of needing to store and maintain them, these machines would allow 1.5 million masks to be made per day if needed.

In 2018 it was cancelled.

of course it was

Ah that thing it failed to get funded from the House and the HHS decided to not persue further

after the compleltion of the prototype in 2017. In part due to the fact the shelf life of the masks expiring before a pandemic was too costly

I mean, I get they couldn't just predict when we'd get one so soon, but damn

it hurts

yeah it really does

I remember a few people in my circle talking about ideas on how to repurpose (One time use medical coverings for emergency work in diaster prone states and cities, like New Orleans was one) it when they heard but it all was expensive, very time consuming to switch back, and you would still need some stockpile at that point.