Let’s stop the schemers trying to profit from America’s fight against COVID-19
With more than 210,000 coronavirus deaths across the nation, we in South Carolina must come together to protect citizens from this deadly virus.
We currently face an impending flu season that when compounded with COVID-19 may well exacerbate the crisis, and worsen the shortage of valuable personal protective equipment that we’re facing.
A critical shortage
While President Donald Trump’s administration is working overtime to defeat the virus, the shortage of personal protective equipment supplies becomes more dire when we realize that the U.S. needs to continue to ramp up testing capabilities.
Members of my family at home in South Carolina faced delays receiving test results and were even denied testing.
And my family’s experience is not unique.
When testing is slow the best defense we have is personal protective equipment.
Hard at work
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Trump administration has been working with American manufacturers to gather enough personal protective equipment supplies to defend front-line workers and citizens across the nation.
American manufacturers have been hard at work increasing their production capacity of masks, respirators and disinfectant materials; Ford, 3M and General Motors are the American brands leading personal protective equipment production nationwide.
Their efforts have provided lifesaving equipment to front-line workers and also contributed greatly to local economies.
3M’s impact in SC
Right here in South Carolina, 3M has two separate manufacturing plants located in Greenville. The plants support more than 1,000 employees and have drastically boosted state revenue, bringing in $225 million of in-state purchases and $163 million in South Carolina-made exports.
The companies have also made a commitment to invest $60 million toward increasing manufacturing capacity and enhancing infrastructure.
Scheming profiteers
Despite the efforts of our government and American manufacturers, there are middlemen scheming the personal protective equipment market to make a profit by selling masks at inflated rates; they are making it difficult to get these urgently needed supplies to the hospitals and workers who need them most.
These middlemen will use well-known names and brands to give credibility to their sale offers or hide their lack of experience in the market under the guise of freshly established companies with no prior background in personal protective equipment sales.
Middlemen will contact suppliers claiming to be licensed distributors of N95 masks and will offer to make a high quantity sale at an inflated price. But often the middlemen will not have access to N95s at all, much less the large quantities they’re offering.
Earlier this month a man was arrested for claiming to have access to 1 trillion 3M N95 masks, an amount that would take the company 909 years to produce. When they do have access to N95s, the sale price will be far greater than the market price set by 3M, which is $1.27 per mask.
North Carolina took action
Just a few weeks ago North Carolina found itself facing a similar scandal.
The Stephen Gould Corp. offered to sell the state N95 masks and other personal protective equipment at a price 15 times greater than the average market price.
The offer would have provided masks to public health facilities across the state including Duke Health, UNC Health, Charlotte’s Red Cross chapter and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s Emergency Management Division.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein took aggressive action against this sale under the state’s price gouging statute, which prohibits selling or attempting to sell essential goods and services at “unreasonably excessive” prices during a state of emergency.
Let’s protect ourselves
As a nation we must do more to protect ourselves from this deadly China virus.
We cannot allow pandemic profiteers to keep our citizens from getting the protection they desperately need. The state of South Carolina should follow the lead of North Carolina and fight against these middlemen so that our citizens don’t have to settle for poor quality equipment imported from China.
Here in the Palmetto State we must take action against pandemic profiteers who are trying to take advantage of a crisis and hurt South Carolina families.
By coming together, we will win the battle against COVID-19.
Mick Mulvaney recently served as acting chief of staff for President Donald Trump and was director of the Office of Management and Budget from 2017 to earlier this year. A former congressman, Mulvaney represented South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District from 2011 to 2017. He lives in Lancaster County.
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Let’s stop the schemers trying to profit from America’s fight against COVID-19."