Consumers, not governments, are driving N95 mask sales: Manufacturer

Omicron's swift surge throughout the world is prompting experts to push for Americans to use better masks, and manufacturers are seeing an uptick in sales.

Lloyd Armbrust, mask manufacturer and president and founder of America's Mask Manufacturers Association (AMMA), said recent studies showing surgical or N95 masks provide better protection against Omicron have helped spur sales.

"We are seeing more consumer traffic and consumer sales than we've ever gotten from governments or hospital systems," Armbrust said.

Still, the AMMA continues to advocate for more government support of mask manufacturers, including to purchase and distribute high-quality masks to Americans.

But so far, the political will isn't there, Armbrust said.

"I think the reason we haven't seen it in the United States is because of the sort of weirdly political take that masks have taken. People, I think, don't have the political energy to be talking about masks," he said.

In the early days of the pandemic, Armbrust helped form the coalition of mask manufacturers to help alleviate perceived shortages of masks.

"We did have a shortage, for a couple minutes, where people were turning their T-shirts into masks, but it was over very, very quickly," he said.

In addition, in May of 2020, Armbrust began manufacturing millions of masks in Austin, Texas, and quickly received emergency use authorization from the FDA.

Despite being able to respond to the demand, manufacturers didn't get the backing they wanted — and have been sitting on excess supply for months.

In fact, Armbrust was able to send 150,000 masks to Malawi during the summer.

While a government contract wouldn't be lucrative for the mask companies, it would help maintain domestic manufacturing.

"The thing that we pitched to them was basically maintaining operations of the 30 mask manufacturers we represent all across the United States. And the idea for that would be just supply chain resiliency," he said.

That means helping keep machines running and paying rent, so that in the next wave, or the next pandemic, the domestic manufacturing capacity is still around to help support protective equipment needs.

In recent months, mask manufacturers have found themselves once again competing with overseas companies — and warning that it is pushing them towards shutting down.

"Unfortunately, America is being America, and the market is being the market," Armbrust said.

Follow Anjalee on Twitter @AnjKhem

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