THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY
15 Million N95s Without A Buyer
A lot of us first heard of N95 masks, the gold standard of face masks, at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. They were almost impossible to get at the time, which makes sense considering the astronomical spike in demand and the fact that some countries had restricted exports.
The mask shortage never went away though. Prices for N95s are still much higher than pre-pandemic levels, meaning many health care workers have to reuse masks. But there's also an N95 supply glut at the exact same time.
Luis Arguello is the president of the medical supplies company DemeTECH. He has about 15 million N95 masks sitting in one Miami factory alone.
So there's demand, and there's supply to meet that demand! What is causing this failure of the market? On The Indicator, we tackle the economic mystery behind the breakdown in the market for N95 masks.
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