Low-priced foreign masks have driven some U.S. manufacturers out of business, The New York Times reported March 5.
The Times interviewed several mask manufacturers who experienced a boom at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and during the delta and omicron waves but have seen orders slow since Chinese companies have begun exporting masks below cost.
"All the hospitals and government agencies and retailers that had been begging for American products suddenly said, 'We’re good,'" Paul Hickey, an entrepreneur who helped found Lindon, Utah-based PuraVita Medical, told the Times.
The Times reported that mask manufacturers said the Biden administration had expressed interest in purchasing their products, a move that has yet to happen.
Read the full report here.