Jared Moskowitz continues push for manufacturer to sell N95 masks directly to Florida

After calling the private market for N95 masks a “Ponzi scheme,” Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz is continuing to push mask manufacturer 3M to sell them directly to the state.

On Thursday, Moskowitz called out 3M in a Twitter post.

.@3M Hello again. Director of @FLSERT here. I have money, you have masks yet you won’t sell them to me. Stop selling to foreign governments. @maddow @Forbes

— Jared MASKowitz 😷 (@JaredEMoskowitz) April 2, 2020

Moskowitz has previously pushed 3M to cut out distributors and brokers and sell N95 masks to the state at market price. He referenced the effort in a Thursday talk with Rep. Shevrin Jones on Facebook Live.

“I’m using every media outlet possible to try to get that personal protective equipment — ventilators, masks, gloves, gowns, goggles, face shields,” Moskowitz told Jones.

“A lot of these large corporations that are going to ask for bailouts at some point in time are really letting the American people down.”

“N95” masks are masks that can filter out at least 95% of airborne particles. Those masks are key to helping protect health care workers from contracting the virus as they treat patients. As the virus has spread, Moskowitz and officials from other states have continued to seek an influx of that protective equipment.

“All day long we try to find these masks. We’re talking to brokers. We’re talking to distributors. We’re talking to medical sales people,” Moskowitz said at a Monday news conference.

“We’re chasing down warehouses only to get there to find out that they’re empty. We’re being told these supplies are on planes only to see that they’re phantom planes, chasing ghosts when they don’t appear on FlightAware. We’re constantly engaging in bidding wars being asked to wire money to accounts that were set up that very same day with email addresses that were created only a couple of days ago.”

Moskowitz also detailed his efforts to help deal with the outbreak in South Florida, the epicenter of the state’s coronavirus outbreak.

“We’re working with the Army Corps of Engineers every day right now, getting our plans approved by the federal government so that we can open up a medical station in the Miami Beach Convention Center as well as doing hotel to hospital conversions in Dade County,” Moskowitz said Thursday.

“I’m worried about Dade County. I’ve worried we could see a surge. I’m worried about ventilator capacity, bed capacity.”

Officials say that the county currently has the capacity to deal with patients suffering from the virus. But if the situation worsens significantly, Moskowitz says that could change.

“Right now the situation in some of our other counties looks okay. Obviously, everyone who gets sick, we’re worried about them. And everybody who winds up in an ICU needs all the help that they can get. But South Florida continues to be the focus.”