#GetTheMasksBack
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A Message from Andy Bellin:
In response to the N-95 mask shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we're trying to recoup the masks lost to price gougers and black market profiteers, to #getthemasksback to the healthcare workers for whom they are absolutely essential.
Above you can watch a conversation about #GetTheMasksBack with my fellow Mask Avengers -- Hank Azaria, Aaron Tveit, and Billy Crudup.
MORE ABOUT #GetTheMasksBack :
My friend Ben tenOever is a microbiologist who runs a virus lab at Mount Sinai medical school in New York. He explained to me that these masks are necessary to enter a Bio Safety Level 3 Facility.
Any other mask (a painter's mask, for instance) is too porous to filter out the virus and won’t protect those essential healthcare workers on the front lines of patient care and research.
To be clear, this isn't a question of having enough money to buy the masks... there are simply no masks to buy.
The problem was that in the pre-social distancing and quarantine days, there was a ton of “panic-buying” of …everything. Try to find toilet paper in LA. I dare you.
The N-95 masks were amongst the supplies hoarded the most. And right now that means there are a lot of N-95 masks on the black market, being sold at exorbitant prices. A $3 mask being sold for $35.
It’s classic price gouging.
The bigger problem is that the people buying the masks on the black market are not the people who desperately need them— they are civilians like you and me, understandably scared and trying to protect themselves and their families, but are once again fueling the desperate shortage of essential supplies.
Our plan:
*To collect (or buy back) masks from any civilian who bought one/some and either regrets it or feels they don’t need it.
*To try and buy up the black market masks and get them to the people on the frontlines of this crisis who desperately need them.
(We’ll deal with the moral reckoning of giving into these price gougers, panic profiteers, and black marketers later)
Ben said Mount Sinai needs 1000 masks. At an average price of $35/mask (up from the usual $3), we have thus set a goal for $35000 + 2.9% taken by this campaign's donation processing fees.
And hopefully, we will surpass this goal and expand the process of buying N-95 masks back and distributing to other facilities desperately in need.
Thanks in advance for your support,
Andy Bellin
**If you know someone or you are someone who has N-95 masks (still in their packaging) and wants to donate them or sell them back to us, please contact us at [email redacted] , and we will send instructions on how to do it.
Please share this campaign link and #GetTheMasksBack
In response to the N-95 mask shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we're trying to recoup the masks lost to price gougers and black market profiteers, to #getthemasksback to the healthcare workers for whom they are absolutely essential.
Above you can watch a conversation about #GetTheMasksBack with my fellow Mask Avengers -- Hank Azaria, Aaron Tveit, and Billy Crudup.
MORE ABOUT #GetTheMasksBack :
My friend Ben tenOever is a microbiologist who runs a virus lab at Mount Sinai medical school in New York. He explained to me that these masks are necessary to enter a Bio Safety Level 3 Facility.
Any other mask (a painter's mask, for instance) is too porous to filter out the virus and won’t protect those essential healthcare workers on the front lines of patient care and research.
To be clear, this isn't a question of having enough money to buy the masks... there are simply no masks to buy.
The problem was that in the pre-social distancing and quarantine days, there was a ton of “panic-buying” of …everything. Try to find toilet paper in LA. I dare you.
The N-95 masks were amongst the supplies hoarded the most. And right now that means there are a lot of N-95 masks on the black market, being sold at exorbitant prices. A $3 mask being sold for $35.
It’s classic price gouging.
The bigger problem is that the people buying the masks on the black market are not the people who desperately need them— they are civilians like you and me, understandably scared and trying to protect themselves and their families, but are once again fueling the desperate shortage of essential supplies.
Our plan:
*To collect (or buy back) masks from any civilian who bought one/some and either regrets it or feels they don’t need it.
*To try and buy up the black market masks and get them to the people on the frontlines of this crisis who desperately need them.
(We’ll deal with the moral reckoning of giving into these price gougers, panic profiteers, and black marketers later)
Ben said Mount Sinai needs 1000 masks. At an average price of $35/mask (up from the usual $3), we have thus set a goal for $35000 + 2.9% taken by this campaign's donation processing fees.
And hopefully, we will surpass this goal and expand the process of buying N-95 masks back and distributing to other facilities desperately in need.
Thanks in advance for your support,
Andy Bellin
**If you know someone or you are someone who has N-95 masks (still in their packaging) and wants to donate them or sell them back to us, please contact us at [email redacted] , and we will send instructions on how to do it.
Please share this campaign link and #GetTheMasksBack
Organizer
Andy Bellin
Organizer
New York, NY