U.S. health care providers are expected to use 500 million N-95 masks this year, which is 20 times what they used last year. That massive demand has led the Pentagon to step in to help increase U.S. production. Healthcare company Premier Inc. earlier this month said its survey of U.S. hospitals found Covid-19 had created surge demand of 17 times the typical burn rate for N-95 respirators, 8.6 times for face shields, 6 times for swabs, 5 times for isolation gowns and 3.3 times for surgical masks. |