WHITE SWAN:

The head of the Fort Worth-based company, Michael Bowen, wrote to HHS on Jan. 23, two days after the U.S. confirmed its first case of COVID-19. 

Bowen offered to use four dormant production lines to produce as many as seven million N95 masks per month, but was told by Laura Wolf, director of the Division of Critical Infrastructure Protection at HHS, "I don't believe we as a government are anywhere near answering those questions for you yet."

"We are the last major domestic mask company," replied Bowen, who at the time was fulfilling orders for masks from all over the world. "My phones are ringing now, so I don't 'need' government business. I'm just letting you know that I can help you preserve our infrastructure if things ever get really bad."

In Bright's whistleblower complaint, he described how he tried to direct Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec's attention to Bowen's offer in late January. Bowen wrote to Bright in late January following his communications with Wolf that "U.S. mask supply is at imminent risk," adding a blunt warning, "Rick, I think we're in deep shit."

Bright demanded to know from Kadlec why Bowen's offer had fallen "on deaf ears."

"We have been watching and receiving warnings on this for over a week," the scientist wrote. 

The agency's refusal to take Bowen up on his offer early on helped lead to a crisis weeks later, as health care workers across the country reported severe shortages of N95 masks as well as other personal protective equipment needed to stop the spread of COVID-19 in health care settings. As the Trump administration denied several times that it was responsible for making sure states had the supplies they needed, states were forced into bidding wars with one another over equipment orders that they placed directly with manufacturers. 

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