PPE makers struggle as pandemic wanes

By Karen Hanna 

Two years after a fast-spreading, novel coronavirus held the world in its grip, some makers of personal protective equipment (PPE) are struggling to survive as COVID-19 numbers fall.  

The American Mask Manufacturer’s Association (AMMA) — formed by companies in the early days of the pandemic — is lobbying for two fixes to help members within its dwindling ranks: an end to a ban on internet advertising and the creation of a national stockpile of PPE, as proposed by one Republican lawmaker. 

“A lot of manufacturers in AMMA cannot pivot since they only make PPE, so they are closing down,” said AMMA executive director Nicolas Smit, who became associated with the organization in February 2021 when it was being formed. “The domestic mask industry is collapsing, and, compared to a year ago, only half the manufacturers are now around. Within months, half the manufacturers around today will likely shut down, as well.” 

At AMMA’s peak, 50 companies joined the group, in an effort to address the country’s shortfall of PPE supplies; fewer than 25 remain. 

“I’d say about 80 percent only make PPE and are greatly affected by the government actively discouraging its use in order to focus on a vaccine and antiviral alone approach, which completely ignores long COVID and pharmaceutical-resistant variants,” Smit said. 

As COVID-19 case counts continued to fall, at least one mask maker was raising the alarm about ending mandates too soon. 

“As a father and grandfather today’s news that mask mandates are dropping in schools SCARES me! When the head of The Hospital for Sick Children AND the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) NEW report shows mask policies reduce the spread of #COVID19 in K-12 schools, what are we doing?” asked Claudio Dente in a mid-March LinkedIn post. 

The president of Dentec Safety Specialists Inc., Dente has seen fears over new viruses — including severe acute respiratory syndrome, better known as SARS, and the H1N1 swine flu — ebb and flow. He had hopes that the country would learn from past experiences. 

“At the height, the AMMA group of companies employed some 8,000 employees. Over the course of the last several months, various members have had to shut down and they have laid off some 6,000 workers,” Dente said. “The issue is, as the foreign supply of respirators has been allowed to export to North America, customers go back to their old habits and buy on price, forgetting, not caring about the companies that have invested millions of dollars in equipment, certification and testing, contribute tax dollars through their business and employees they hire.” 

With a focus on processing elastomerics, as well as nylon 6, PC, PE and PS, Dentec Safety Specialists is one of the survivors. Unlike many of its AMMA peers, which began as startups over the last two years, it is both more diversified and much more established — it has been making National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health-approved masks and respirators for about 30 years. 

The company, which operates injection molding machines with clamping forces ranging from 55 to 300 tons, at one of its two facilities in Lenexa, Kan., has had as many as 35 workers over the past two years; recently, it’s at 20 or fewer. It also operates a facility in Newmarket, Ontario.

Trouble finding workers — especially at the height of the pandemic — and the company’s investment in automation are two reasons the workforce has declined, Dente said. 

In addition to masks, Dentec makes some custom products, including a lens used in surgical microscopes. 

“In our case, we were already making respirators and have the knowledge, expertise and an internal testing lab to make modifications quickly,” Dente said. “As a result, we did not pivot from making, say, chairs to making respirators for healthcare.” 

While a new wave of infections already was hitting parts of Europe and Asia, recent case numbers in the U.S. appeared rosy. Although the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported the country’s COVID-19 case-count peak reached more than 1.3 million on Jan. 10, by March 20 it had fallen to just 10,455 new cases .  

However, the case count the following day offered evidence the pandemic wasn’t in full retreat: On March 21, the CDC recorded at least 40,310 infections. 

Dente and Smit warned the country still has lessons to learn from the crisis. 

They put blame for the failure of AMMA member companies on policies that have created hurdles for small business owners. 

The current situation, with small PPE manufacturers losing out to PPE behemoths, like 3M and Moldex-Metric Inc., is “disheartening,” Dente said. 

Some entrepreneurs put their life savings on the line to respond to the pandemic, Dente said. “We committed millions and millions of dollars of personal income to set up the operation, buy equipment, commit to rent, hire employees, and we are basically being shut out.” 

One issue is a law that prohibits mask manufacturers from advertising their wares online, he and Smit said. 

“Manufacturers still cannot advertise their masks since the government has refused to ask Google, Facebook and others to lift the advertising ban on medical masks that was put in place when there were severe mask shortages. The government declared the mask shortage over on April 9, 2021, thanks to AMMA’s early work, and I continue to work to get the ad ban removed,” Smit said. 

The organization also supports efforts to prioritize the purchase and distribution of U.S.-made masks, working with Democratic senators to write about the matter in an open letter that was hand-delivered to President Joe Biden. 

Recently, it worked with U.S. House Republicans to introduce the Domestic Security Using Production Partnerships and Lessons from Yesterday — also known as the SUPPLY Act. The bill, introduced in January by U.S. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., would require the federal government to work with domestic manufacturers to ensure a supply of PPE during national emergencies. 

So far, it has no cosponsors.  

As he and the country continue to watch the COVID-19 numbers, Dente said Dentec is preparing to expand its respirator product offerings for healthcare and frontline workers. 

But, given the experience of the past two years, he already is raising the alarm about the next pandemic. 

“Pandemics cause sharp increases in demand requiring intensive capital investment for equipment, additional buildings to house the new volume and staff to manufacture and assemble product. Because COVID-19 has lingered so long, I thought it would change the mindset, but it only made … challenges for manufacturers of any critical product used to fight the pandemic,” Dente said. “Because of this, I believe we will not see the volume of people that step up to help when the next pandemic arrives.” 

Karen Hanna, senior staff reporter

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