“The FDA cannot get out of its own way. Why doesn't the FDA just say, ‘Okay, let's use what the Brits are using, what the Canadians are using, what every normal country is using?’” said MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi, who advises hospitals on supply chain management. “They think that only N95 works? I mean, this is insane at this time, it's insane. It's like you're fighting a war, and somebody comes from the outside and says, ‘I can give you some guns and tanks and airplanes.’ And you say, ‘No, let me develop my own.’”
Sheffi said, as a result, hospitals are terrified they’d be sued for buying these suboptimal masks to outfit their staff — and they might be right. That’s why the government needs to step in and give them certain that they wouldn’t be liable.
“We live in the most litigious society on Earth. I mean, they'll go bankrupt for sure,” Sheffi said. “If the nurse is using a handkerchief to cover her mouth, and something happened, it's the nurse's fault. If the hospital orders 100,000 masks and one person dies or something bad happens then it's the hospital that is on the hook.”