En una pandemia, la cifra debe ronda el billón de piezas.
On April 2, the New England Patriots’ team plane left China with mundane but suddenly precious cargo: 1.2 million N95 respirators, a critical type of mask that protects health-care workers treating patients who have infectious diseases.
Was that a big stash?
In normal, pre-covid-19 times, the answer would be yes. Most hospitals buy just a few thousand N95s per year, according to a company that negotiates purchasing contracts.
In the frenzied weeks of March and April, when the trickle of covid-19 patients suddenly grew into a deluge, the answer was a hard no. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Robert Kadlec had testified in February that the United States would need 3.5 billion N95s in a serious pandemic.
By March, hospitals in areas with large outbreaks reported burning through the one-time-use masks at up to 10 times their normal rates.
Now in mid-May, as emergency supply lines have begun to kick in and reuse of hospital garb has become common, the answer is somewhere in between.