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3M Prioritizing N95 Masks Overseas

player

New Member
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unclebun

Active Member
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52161995

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/04/827321294/german-french-officials-accuse-u-s-of-diverting-supplies

Theyre not just asking 3M To keep products made in USA in USA - They're diverting shipments from china and other countries to USA and pretty much stealing supplies made in other naitons, for other nations.

EVERY country needs masks. Hoarding them all, or using force to take them all isn't the way to go about a world wide crisis. Theres a bigger picture here - Why would Canada, or any other country export raw materials for USA to make masks and have them refuse to supply them with said masks? Imagine if Canada said we have our own factories to make masks...so the ONLY pulp mill in the world making the materials used in surgical masks and hospital gowns stops supplying everyone else and keeps it all in Canada... that shortage would hurt everyone. At a time like this, we're all supposed to be sharing resources... If we turn on eachother like it seems we are, both countries are going to be much, much worst off than if they shared resources.

Yes, we've already covered the reported instances of shipments being diverted in Thailand or wherever in this thread earlier. On the other hand, Florida officials are claiming 3M has done the same thing to their shipments, selling them to foreign countries that bid higher https://www.foxnews.com/media/florida-emergency-official-3m-selling-masks-overseas

Also, it appears that 3M's distribution system, involving brokers, may be who is really diverting these shipments. If Trump decides to crack down on suppliers exporting medical supplies from the US, then the US will join 54 other countries who have already done so since March 21. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/wh...companies-exporting-critical-medical-supplies
 

player

New Member
Trump doubled down on keeping Canada from getting medical supplies.

On the news tonight they said when we stop our medical workers from going to the states it will completely close a number of hospitals in Detroit and many other hospitals along the border.

Our govt has millions of masks lined up and arriving on Monday from other countries. We may stop the medical gloves and other equipment that we supply to the states. There is a new test developed in Ottawa Canada that gives results in 1 hr. We were going to ship a ton of them to the USA but now that may be cancelled and given to other countries. The pulp used in the masks is also being looked at stopping American shipments. The 3M mask manufacturing production will cease in the USA if we do. None of this is set to happen yet, but I cannot see us continuing when you are not reciprocating fairly. I hope it doesn't come to this. The USA has 308,644 cases with 992 new deaths today as of 6:45 pm est.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
Trump doubled down on keeping Canada from getting medical supplies.

On the news tonight they said when we stop our medical workers from going to the states it will completely close a number of hospitals in Detroit and many other hospitals along the border.

Our govt has millions of masks lined up and arriving on Monday from other countries. We may stop the medical gloves and other equipment that we supply to the states. There is a new test developed in Ottawa Canada that gives results in 1 hr. We were going to ship a ton of them to the USA but now that may be cancelled and given to other countries. The pulp used in the masks is also being looked at stopping American shipments. The 3M mask manufacturing production will cease in the USA if we do. None of this is set to happen yet, but I cannot see us continuing when you are not reciprocating fairly. I hope it doesn't come to this. The USA has 308,644 cases with 992 new deaths today as of 6:45 pm est.
You know we made a 15 min. test now?
 

player

New Member
"The USA has 308,644 cases with 992 new deaths today as of 6:45 pm est."
310,133 cases with 1038 new deaths today as of 7:45 pm est

One hour later...
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
My kid and I usually pass the time sitting outside and do airplane watching. Have an app on the phone and we track the airplanes as they fly over our house. We live in the path of two airports so they fly over every 2-3 minutes. We're lucky to see one an hour now.
 

player

New Member
My kid and I usually pass the time sitting outside and do airplane watching. Have an app on the phone and we track the airplanes as they fly over our house. We live in the path of two airports so they fly over every 2-3 minutes. We're lucky to see one an hour now.
The Ottawa Canada International Airport said they would normally have 7000 people booked daily. Now they have 400.
 

player

New Member
The news says Trudeau is not looking to enflame tensions with the US over US mask restrictions.

Have a good day eh!

Bob_and_Doug_McKenzie.jpg
 
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CanuckSigns

Active Member
The news says Trudeau is not looking to enflame tensions with the US over US mask restrictions.

Have a good day eh!

Bob_and_Doug_McKenzie.jpg

It's refreshing to see a world leader think before they act, it's becoming less common these days, I imagine if the situation was reversed it would be a much different story.
 

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
Imagine the scenes if the UK and Canada were diverting the masks to themselves. The twitter man would have a meltdown
 

JWitkowski

New Member
Definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Understandably their supply chain of brokers makes this hard for them to wrangle but WTF, take care of your own in a time of crisis.

Thoughts?
I understand the desire to look out for one's own first, but it's a short-sighted approach as economies and trade are increasingly globalized. As 3M shipments to Canada have become an issue, what then about the shipments of medical supplies, research, etc. that Canada supplies to the U.S., for example? If countries all take a 'me first' approach and all cross-border trade ceases, how could that provide a benefit? If each recipient country has been relying on another country for supply of goods, raw materials or knowledge and it immediately ceases, there would be no alternative sources readily available. Shortages would be the likely be the outcome in the short-term at least. All would suffer. If each country develops its own supply chain to make up the shortages, then once the high demand is met there would be a surplus of supply capacity and continuing forward with those once-ramped up production capabilities, it would be quite inefficient at lower production rates. Many here in Canada often question our reliance on imports however, we export more than we bring in, so 'shutting the doors' would be economically unwise, I'm thinking. Thoughts?
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
If another county had the amount of Covid cases as the US does, I would kind of understand their desire to get what they need to deal with it. We're by far the #1 spot for Covid and the numbers are exploding much faster then anyone else, can you blame us for freaking out and trying to get masks. They are hauling away bodies in tractor trailer tucks out of New York.

Read in the news today that a 30-something year old man from Dallas died of Covid. No known preexisting conditions... This really isn't good news.
 

Gene@mpls

New Member
I watch Fox news occasionally just to try to see the other side of the news. You should try it sometime, this is not a political crisis.
 

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
The UK and USA were both a bit late to the party. Which is ironic as now we have two of the steepest death curves - as countries were fully locking down the UK actually had the idea of herd immunity and just done a bit contact tracing.

Also, we weren’t monitoring any incoming people and still taking lots of arrivals from affected areas with no screening procedures.

I feel strongly that the UK government were trying to save the economy more than they were trying to save lives. As far as I’ve read on the USA side, it appears much the same. I think they were looking to get back to work by Easter? completely nonsensical!

The quicker countries locked down (or at least stopped foreign arrivals) the better placed they would be - probably meaning they could get somewhat back to normality quicker too.

This was 100% not taken seriously enough from the get go. In many ways the economic impact and this impending depression (recession is highly likely but I’m going for depression just because the world has shut down) could have perhaps been avoided/lessened by everyone acting sooner and not fobbing it off as a hoax.

As far as the case numbers go for needing the PPE, how many of the 300,000 or so US cases are actually hospitalised? In the UK we only test people IF they require hospitalisation so I can’t imagine our figures look much better than the USA, we just simply haven’t bothered to test people unless they’re dying.
 

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
Also, the UK death figures ONLY count people that died in hospital. We don’t count people that have died in care homes, at home etc so I’d guess the real numbers are pretty gruesome.
 

ikarasu

Active Member
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...8game-changer-e2-80-99-virus-drug/ar-BB12bfRU

And so it begins. This is why Countries should be working together... Lets say this drug does work as good as trump says it does. Malaria isn't a problem in USA so I doubt they have a stockpile, or the means to generate it for the USA population - See how hoarding all the supplies might seem like a good idea, but can backfire and do more harm? Everyone is going to start holding onto their own supplies and materials rather than working together and sharing resources.
 

Notarealsignguy

Arial - it's almost helvetica
You watch, India will probably be the hardest hit country in the world.
Possibly but theyre not screwing around with their lockdown. They have police everywhere beating people with sticks that are out of their houses.
The flavellas in brazil will get hammered if they arent already.
 

ikarasu

Active Member
I agree they’ll be hit the hardest. Which is why a move like this is bad.

I feel like when they need help and supplies, trumps not the kind of guy who will forget they confiscated all the drugs USA already paid for and was expecting, then turned him down when he personally asked they at least fulfill the orders that was paid for.

I get the fear and panic, but as more and more countries start doing this... The worst off we all are.
 
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