Supporting small US mask manufacturers ー Medically Necessary

Is the delta variant spread enough to keep manufacturers afloat?

In 2020, a wave of businesses started manufacturing personal protective equipment to make up for severe shortages. As demand for PPE has declined, many of those small businesses are now close to shutting down. 

Matt Blois talks to Brent Dillie, founder and chairman of the American Mask Makers Association, a trade group representing these companies. Dillie also is the commercial director for Premium-PPE. 

AMMA wants the federal government to immediately place orders with the small mask manufacturers so that they can stay afloat in the short term. In the long term, AMMA is looking to Congress for legislation that will support these companies. 

The two discuss how manufacturers will survive as vaccine campaigns continue and demand for PPE slows, and if surging variants can boost demand again. 

You can find more Medically Necessary episodes and recaps for all our live podcasts here.

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Kaylee Nix

Kaylee Nix is a meteorologist and reporter for FreightWaves. She joined the company in November of 2020 after spending two years as a broadcast meteorologist for a local television channel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kaylee graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2018 and immediately made the Tennessee Valley her home. Kaylee creates written summaries of FreightWaves live podcasts and cultivates the social media for FreightWaves TV.