Mask Around
“With supply chains gone haywire and limited help forthcoming from the government, ordinary citizens have started volunteer networks around the country, forming what one enlistee referred to as “a last-minute bucket brigade.” Get Us PPE, one of the largest groups, estimates that it facilitated the delivery of some one and a half million masks in April alone. Smaller groups—amorphous, and nimble on their feet—have been built from webs of real-life connections made manifest in Slack channels, WhatsApp groups, and endless 2 a.m. Zoom calls. Often, there’s no formal hierarchy, just a rotating crew of bleary-eyed volunteers: teachers, coders, lawyers, artists, historians, and the recently unemployed.” The New Yorker: The Underground Efforts to Get Masks to Doctors. (These are great efforts. I’ve bought a ton of masks on both coasts and amplified many of these efforts. But it’s unreal that this is necessary in the richest country with the most expensive health care.)
+ Axios: Trump officials’ dysfunction harms delivery of coronavirus drug.
+ WaPo: White House pandemic supply project swathed in secrecy and exaggerations.