COVID-19: Social dilemmas about protective measures

The psychosocial profile of people who resist adopting suitable protective behaviours against the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus provides valuable information about preventing epidemics.

UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE

Research News

 

We need to know about these psychological and social profiles so we can understand how protective actions against contagious diseases are adopted, and then define the correct preventive approaches. At the very start of the coronavirus crisis - before restrictive measures were taken - a team of health behaviour specialists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) managed to collect a large amount of data about the adoption of protective measures. Through a study published in the journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, the Geneva psychologists analysed how people in Britain followed the precautions recommended in their country. The study focuses on how the behaviour of others influences individual decision-making, known as the social dilemma. It notes that beliefs about COVID-19, such as thinking that the disease is dangerous or feelings of vulnerability, have little impact on whether or not an individual takes up protective measures. The people least likely to adopt these measures are those who believe that the precautions taken by others mean that they do not need to take their own. These psychosocial profiles (among others identified in the study) point to possible solutions for creating prevention messages that are more effective.

A better understanding of human behaviour when it comes to making a positive contribution to a community can be used to develop more appropriate prevention measures and messaging. This is a form of behaviour analysis that is very useful for ecological issues and blood donation. Lisa Moussaoui is first author of the study as well as being a lecturer and research fellow in the health psychology research group in UNIGE's Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (FPSE). She explains the approach thus: «We are trying to understand how people make decisions and act so that preventive interventions can be made.» This is why, when the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health announced it would be introducing a semi-lockdown on March 13, 2020, the researcher and her colleagues decided to bring their expertise to bear regarding the COVID-19 health crisis.

Using the United Kingdom as a model

The Geneva psychologists turned to the United Kingdom, which - unlike Switzerland - had not yet entered lockdown: this meant the researchers could analyse behaviours before the official measures came into force, enabling them to concentrate on the initial decisive phases. A representative sample of 1,006 UK citizens served as the basis for the study, which included a series of questions relating to monitoring the adoption of the preventive measures recommended by the British health authorities. «We measured variables such as perceived vulnerability to COVID-19, the perceived severity of the disease and a number of other beliefs,» says Nana Ofosu, a doctoral student at UNIGE and co-author of the study.

Few socio-demographic differences

The psychologists observed that preventive measures were spontaneously adopted by a large section of the population. «It's a known phenomenon. Informing people about the presence of a danger is enough to bring about a massive and rapid change in behaviour. We've seen the same thing in other tragic situations, such as the AIDS pandemic. But, in spite of everything, pockets of resistance do exist,» explains Olivier Desrichard, FPSE professor and co-author of the study.

Level of education, family environment, age and the number of cases declared in the region do not influence behaviour. «It's an outcome that contradicts rumours claiming that certain categories of the population, such as young people, followed instructions less than others,» adds Moussaoui.

How other people behave: a source of social dilemma

«If no one else is doing it, why should I be the only one making the effort? « The more the study participants agreed with this question, the less they adopted preventive measures. Another factor negatively influences their adoption: the «drop-in-the-bucket» phenomenon - the feeling that your own contribution is pointless compared to the size of the danger. Finally, the study emphasises the fact that the more social contacts the participants had, such as professional relationships, the more they felt vulnerable, even though this did not inspire them to adopt the correct actions.

Preventive approach that needs refining

The study confirms the fact that social dilemmas influence behaviour. This psychosocial approach offers an interesting counterpoint to the way information is communicated about COVID-19, one that focuses on the dangerous nature of the virus and the importance of observing instructions. «It's important to know the real determinants of behaviour before embarking on a preventive action so as not to miss the intended goal. Most of the people interviewed were already convinced about the importance of respecting the recommendations. It follows,» concludes Moussaoui,» that this kind of message is not really useful to influence their behaviour».

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Tweaks to land-based conservation efforts would pay huge freshwater ecosystem dividends

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

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IMAGE: FLONA TAPAJO?S, PARA?, BRASIL BY MARIZILDA CRUPPE - REDE AMAZO?NIA SUSTANTA?VEL (6) view more 

CREDIT: REDE AMAZO?NIA SUSTANTA?VEL (6)

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Conservation projects aimed at protecting land-dwelling species could net major gains in helping species living in streams, lakes and wetlands with relatively minor adjustments, an international research collaboration that included Oregon State University has discovered.

Published today in Science, the findings are important because freshwater ecosystems host roughly 10% of all known species and one-third of all vertebrates despite comprising less than 1% of the Earth's surface.

Streams, ponds, lakes, rivers and swamps also play a key role in climate regulation and in providing food and fuel for communities around the globe.

Thanks to human-caused pressures over the last half-century - including habitat loss, overexploitation of resources, dam building and introduction of non-native species - freshwater vertebrates have seen their populations fall by about 80%, more than double the decline for marine and terrestrial vertebrate populations.

Climate change and pollution are exacerbating the problem, and scientists say new conservation approaches are needed to save freshwater ecosystems and the species that live in them. But typically, conservation efforts have focused much more heavily on land than water.

Bob Hughes, senior research professor of fisheries and wildlife in OSU's College of Agricultural Sciences, was part of a collaboration led by scientists at Brazil's University of São Paulo and University of Lavras and Britain's Lancaster University that analyzed more than 1,500 species in the Amazon.

The scientists looked at both terrestrial and aquatic species - including fish, dragonflies, caddisflies, birds and beetles - and ran simulations of various conservation strategies.

"When the strategies prioritized only terrestrial species, the benefit to freshwater species was on average 22% of what it was for strategies that prioritized freshwater species," Hughes said. "But when we used a joint focus, it was possible to increase freshwater benefits by as much as 600% at the expense of just a 1% drop in terrestrial benefits."

Conservation projects have generally focused on protecting species that live on land, said co-lead author Cecilia Gontijo Leal from the University of São Paulo and University of Lavras, and if freshwater species are considered at all, it is assumed that they will be protected incidentally - as a by-product of efforts to conserve land species.

"But we found that to address the freshwater biodiversity crisis, freshwater species need to be explicitly incorporated into conservation planning," she said.

Co-lead author Gareth Lennox of Lancaster University said the findings illustrate "a great opportunity for conservation, where protection for one species group does not require either loss of protection for others or significant funding increases."

Because conservation energy has more often been directed at land species, information is somewhat lacking on the distribution of freshwater species, the scientists say. That means one challenge in protecting those species is not necessarily knowing where they are, particularly in tropical regions.

But because a critical factor for freshwater conservation is the concept of connectivity - the surface links between lakes, wetlands and streams - the researchers developed a new method for protecting freshwater species.

"Freshwater species crucially depend on the connectivity of river systems," said Silvio Ferraz of the University of São Paulo. "By designing conservation reserve networks that take such connectivity into consideration, we found that freshwater protection could still be doubled in the absence of species distribution data. This shows that there are few impediments to vastly improving freshwater conservation in data-poor regions of the world."

Jos Barlow from Lancaster University stressed that the urgency of the biodiversity crisis facing humanity means that the many important and endangered freshwater species can no longer be overlooked.

"Our findings show that conservation that thinks across ecosystems and habitats can provide substantially improved outcomes compared to more narrowly focused efforts," Barlow said.

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The research coalition also included scientists from Cornell University and Virginia Tech as well as researchers from Australia, Switzerland and Portugal.

A network of organizations in Australia, Brazil and the United Kingdom supported the work financially.

Awakening after a sleeping pill

Patient with serious brain injury can temporarily talk, walk, and recognize family members

RADBOUD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

Research News

 

Patient with serious brain injury can temporarily talk, walk, and recognize family members

Awakening after a sleeping pill

A patient who could not move and talk spontaneously for eight years started to do so again after being administered a sleeping pill. The spectacular but temporary effect was visualized with brain scans, giving researchers from Radboud university medical center and Amsterdam UMC a better understanding of this disorder's underlying neurophysiological processes. The article has been published in Cortex.

Eight years ago, Richard, at the time a man in his late 20s, was hospitalized after a serious lack of oxygen. He survived but suffered a severe brain injury. Richard was no longer able to talk, eat independently, or move spontaneously. He was admitted to a specialized nursing home. Willemijn van Erp, an elderly care physician and researcher at Radboud university medical center, was still in training when she met Richard. "It was clear that Richard saw and heard us," she says, "but because of his brain injury, he was barely able to respond to us." This rare condition is known as akinetic mutism. Akinetic means that the patient is no longer able to move consciously. Mutism refers to the absence of speech.

Remarkable effect There is a small chance that patients with this condition will temporarily recover after administering the Zolpidem sleeping medication. Van Erp: "Because Richard's situation seemed hopeless, the family and I decided to administer this medication to Richard. Against all expectations, Zolpidem had remarkable effects. After taking the sleep pill, Richard started talking, wanted to call his father, and started recognizing his brothers again. With some help, he could even get up from his wheelchair and walk short distances."

Overactive brain Researchers at Amsterdam UMC, including neurosurgeon resident Hisse Arnts, have used brain scans to demonstrate the differences between the two situations. This provided them with information that could be important for Richard and other patients with severe non-congenital brain injuries. Arnts: "Richard's brain scans show overactivity in certain parts of the brain. This overactivity causes noise and somehow shuts down the 'good brain activity'. We have discovered that administering this sleeping medication can suppress this unwanted brain overactivity, creating space for speech and movement."

Research continues The researchers presented their findings and a video of Richard in the magazine Cortex. The research has since continued. Zolpidem's positive effects have a limited duration, which is why the researchers are now looking for a more permanent solution for Richard and other patients with this specific form of severe brain injury.

Stellar explosion in Earth's proximity

Discovery of iron-60 and manganese-53 substantiates supernova 2.5 million years ago

TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH (TUM)

Research News

 

IMAGE: THIS MANGANESE CRUST STARTED TO GROW ABOUT 20 MILLION YEARS AGO. IT GREW LAYER BY LAYER UNTIL IT WAS RETRIEVED A FEW YEARS AGO AND ANALYZED IN THE MAIER-LEIBNITZ-LABORATORY AT... view more 

CREDIT: DOMINIK KOLL / TUM

When the brightness of the star Betelgeuse dropped dramatically a few months ago, some observers suspected an impending supernova - a stellar explosion that could also cause damage on Earth. While Betelgeuse has returned to normal, physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have found evidence of a supernova that exploded near the Earth around 2.5 million years ago.

The life of stars with a mass more than ten times that of our sun ends in a supernova, a colossal stellar explosion. This explosion leads to the formation of iron, manganese and other heavy elements.

In layers of a manganese crust that are around two and a half million years old a research team led by physicists from the Technical University of Munich has now confirmed the existence of both iron-60 and manganese-53.

"The increased concentrations of manganese-53 can be taken as the "smoking gun" - the ultimate proof that this supernova really did take place," says first author Dr. Gunther Korschinek.

While a very close supernova could inflict massive harm to life on Earth, this one was far enough away. It only caused a boost in cosmic rays over several thousand years. "However, this can lead to increased cloud formation," says co-author Dr. Thomas Faestermann. "Perhaps there is a link to the Pleistocene epoch, the period of the Ice Ages, which began 2.6 million years ago."

Ultra-trace analysis

Typically, manganese occurs on earth as manganese-55. Manganese-53, on the other hand, usually stems from cosmic dust, like that found in the asteroid belt of our solar system. This dust rains down onto the earth continuously; but only rarely do we perceive larger specks of dust that glow as meteorites.

New sediment layers that accumulate year for year on the sea floor preserve the distribution of the elements in manganese crusts and sediment samples. Using accelerator mass spectrometry, the team of scientists has now detected both iron-60 and increased levels of manganese-53 in layers that were deposited about two and a half million years ago.

"This is investigative ultra-trace analysis," says Korschinek. "We are talking about merely a few atoms here. But accelerator mass spectrometry is so sensitive that it even allows us to calculate from our measurements that the star that exploded must have had around 11 to 25 times the size of the sun."

The researchers were also able to determine the half-life of manganese-53 from comparisons to other nuclides and the age of the samples. The result: 3.7 million years. To date, there has only been a single measurement to this end worldwide.

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The research was funded by the German Research Foundation as part of the Cluster of Excellence "Origin and Structure of the Universe". In addition to the Technical University of Munich, the Laboratorio TANDAR, the Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, San Martín (Argentina), the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and the Helmholtz Center in Dresden-Rossendorf were participated in the research.

Publication:

G. Korschinek, T. Faestermann, M. Poutivtsev, A. Arazi, K. Knie, G. Rugel, and A. Wallner Supernova-Produced 53Mn on Earth Physical Review Letters, 125, 031101, July 17, 2020 - DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.031101

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news relea

OPCW probes couldn't prove chemical use in 2 Syria attacks

MIKE CORDER, Associated Press•October 2, 2020

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The global chemical weapons watchdog said Friday that two investigations into alleged attacks in Syria in 2016 and 2018 couldn't establish that chemicals were used as weapons in either case.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons issued two reports by its Fact-Finding Mission into attacks in Saraqib in the Idlib region on Aug. 1, 2016, and in Aleppo on Nov. 24, 2018.

The report on the Saraqib attack said that open source reports suggested around 30 people, mainly women and children experienced breathing difficulties. The reports also “indicated the presence of a substance with an odor similar to that of chlorine,” the OPCW report said.

Opposition groups blamed the attack on Syrian government forces, an allegation Syria rejected, the OPCW report said.

The Fact-Finding Mission wasn't able to visit the site of the alleged incident or the hospital where injured victims were treated. It had to rely on data including interviews, hospital records and videos and photographs.

Its investigations and analysis “did not allow the FFM to establish whether or not chemicals were used as a weapon,” according to the report issued Friday.

The alleged chlorine attack in Aleppo was blamed on rebel forces.

“Social media reported that armed opposition groups dismissed accusations that they had used poisonous gases to attack areas controlled by the government in the city of Aleppo,” the OPCW report said.

Despite visiting hospitals to collect medical records and analyzing samples, the Aleppo investigation also didn't establish whether chemicals were used as a weapon, the report said.

In the past, a joint U.N.-OPCW investigative mechanism accused Syria of using chlorine and the nerve agent sarin during the civil war, while the Islamic State group was accused of using mustard gas twice in 2015 and 2016.

In April this year, an OPCW investigation blamed the Syrian air force for a series of chemical attacks using sarin and chlorine in late March 2017 on the central town of Latamneh.

The Syrian government has consistently rejected repeated allegations that it launched chemical weapons attacks.

#SCHADENFRUEDE 

West Virginia mail carrier guilty of election fraud after altering ballot requests to Republican

Joshua Bote, USA TODAY•October 1, 2020


A West Virginia postal carrier pled guilty to mail and election fraud after admitting he changed the political affiliation on multiple voter ballot requests from Democrat to Republican.

Thomas Cooper, 47, admitted to attempted election fraud and injury to the mail Thursday after an affidavit was filed against him in May.

Cooper held a contract with the U.S. Postal Service to pick up mail in three towns in Pendleton County.

In April, per a statement from the Department of Justice, the county clerk found absentee ballot requests from eight voters that were tampered with a black ink pen, five of which had their party affiliation switched to Republican. Three others that had their affiliation already set to Republican were altered, but did not have their political party changed. All ballots were located in Pendleton County.

Bennie Cogar, a West Virginia Attorney General's Office investigator working on behalf of the secretary of state's office, said in the affidavit filed in May that Cooper admitted to having tampered with some of the requests he delivered "as a joke." He did not know any of the voters whose requests he changed.

Despite ongoing accusations about mail-in voter fraud, including those by President Trump, cases have been minimal — and Trump himself has voted absentee. State leaders from both parties have granted more absentee ballots to residents during the coronavirus pandemic.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WV mail carrier guilty of election fraud changed absentee ballot forms

Sportscaster who called Sen. Tim Scott ‘Uncle Tom’ is out of a job, CT station says

Tanasia Kenney,Miami Herald•October 2, 2020


An Emmy-nominated sportscaster in Connecticut is out of a job after referring to Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) as an “Uncle Tom” in a since-deleted Twitter post.

News 12 Connecticut announced anchor Fred Gerteiny’s firing in a statement Wednesday, condemning his “racially insensitive” comment aimed at Scott, the GOP’s sole Black senator.

“After reviewing the incident, the network released sports reporter Fred Gerteiny,” the station said in a statement. “News 12 Networks has a zero tolerance policy for racism or improper conduct based on race, and prides itself on being an objective and unbiased multi-platform news company.”

Gerteiny was responding to a story from The Hill on Scott, who said he believed President Donald Trump “misspoke” when he told the Proud Boys, a “pro-western fraternity” the Anti-Defamation League has labeled a white supremacist group, to “stand back and stand by” during Tuesday’s presidential debate with Joe Biden.


“White supremacy should be denounced at every turn,” Scott told reporters Wednesday. “I think the president misspoke, and he needs to correct it. If he doesn’t correct it, I guess he didn’t misspeak.”

“Thanks Uncle Tom,” Gerteiny commented under the story, using the derogatory term to describe someone seen as betraying their race/culture by being overly servile to white people.

Privately, Tim Scott expressed concern with Trump debate answer on white supremacists

The reporter later apologized for his remarks.

“Earlier today, I tweeted a racially insensitive comment, when I referred to @SenatorTimScott as an ‘Uncle Tom,’ ” Gerteiny tweeted, according to The Hill. “I apologize to the Senator, my colleagues @News12CT, and anyone else I may have offended with this deeply offensive tweet.”

The sportscaster’s Twitter account has since been deleted.

Eric Trump backtracks after saying he's 'part of' the LGBT community on 'Fox & Friends'


Raechal Shewfelt
Editor, Yahoo Entertainment,
Yahoo TV•September 29, 2020

Eric Trump clarifies statement saying he’s ‘part of’ the LGBT community

Scroll back up to restore default view.

Eric Trump’s appearance on Fox & Friends on Tuesday didn’t go exactly as planned.

President Donald Trump’s son, speaking on one of his father’s favorite shows hours before the president was set to debate opponent Joe Biden in the first presidential debate ahead of the November election, was asked about the gay community’s support for the administration.

“I’m telling you, I see it every day, the LGBT community, they are incredible and you should see how they’ve come out in full force for my father every single day,” he answered. “I’m part of that community and we love the man and thank you for protecting our neighborhoods and thank you for protecting our cities.”

Eric Trump has clarified his statement. (Photo: SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Many viewers thought Trump had come out, to the point that he issued a statement to the New York Post:

“To clarify, many of our close friends are part of the LGBT community, which was the intent of my statement — the left has taken that vote for granted for a long time and support from the gay community for my father is incredible. As to me personally, as I think you know, I am a happily married man to my wife, Lara.”

Trump said he’s also not bisexual.

He explained that he had said what President Trump’s LGBT supporters have noted in the past.

Social media was quick to react, as always, with many suggesting the executive vice president of the Trump organization and member of the first family would not be welcome in the gay community, because of the president’s stances on issues affecting it.

 

White House announces major improvements in coronavirus testing (again)


Alexander Nazaryan
National Correspondent,
Yahoo News•September 28, 2020

WASHINGTON — The setting was familiar, and so were the assurances. Speaking from the Rose Garden on Monday afternoon, President Trump promised a “massive and groundbreaking expansion” in the nation’s ability to perform diagnostic tests for the coronavirus.

“We are now at an inflection point in testing,” said Adm. Brett Giroir, a high-ranking Department of Health and Human Services official who is in charge of testing on the White House coronavirus task force. He said that 920,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests were now being performed nationwide each day. Some 7 million Americans have tested positive.

The expansion was made possible by Abbott Laboratories, whose rapid BinaxNOW test can return results in mere minutes without requiring the intrusive nasal swab that can make a coronavirus test an acutely unpleasant experience.

The Trump administration purchased 150 million such tests for $760 million. They will go to nursing homes, schools and other institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities.

Adm. Brett Giroir shows a nasal swab during a coronavirus testing event with President Trump on Monday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump first promised that any American could get a coronavirus test in early March. That was untrue at the time, and though the availability of tests has greatly increased, shortages persist in the United States. So do days-long waits to receive results from laboratories. The BinaxNOW test does not need to be sent to a laboratory.

Ever the nation’s cheerleader, Trump tried to use Monday’s announcement as a pivot away from a summer marked by persistently high death counts and fears of a second lockdown.

“We’re rounding the corner,” Trump said on Monday afternoon. He said much the same thing from the Rose Garden in May, telling the nation that “we have met the moment, and we have prevailed.” In subsequent weeks and months, COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, while receding in New York and other early hot spots, would erupt in Sun Belt states like Florida, Arizona and Texas, where Republican governors eagerly followed the president’s call to reopen businesses and places of gathering.

Giroir demonstrated administration of the BinaxNOW test from a podium at the Rose Garden, dribbling six drops of test reagent onto a square of cardboard, swabbing his nostrils with a probe and then dipping it into the liquid. The results would be available in 15 minutes, he said. He did not disclose what they were.

“This is a very sophisticated little piece of cardboard,” Giroir said as he concluded his demonstration.

“This is not a home test,” he warned, a reminder that the day when a COVID-19 diagnostic test is a household item as common as the hairbrush is still far away. A medical professional has to supervise the test, but it can be done anywhere: at the entrance to a school, or in the parking lot of a concert venue.

President Trump leaves after the coronavirus testing event. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The tests in use until now mostly require sending specimens to laboratories equipped with special equipment.

The advent of a quick, relatively accurate point-of-care test does mark an important advance, especially as the nation prepares for a cold-weather coronavirus test.

Notably absent from the event were prominent members of the coronavirus task force, including Drs. Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci. Instead, there were remarks by Dr. Scott Atlas, a Stanford brain-imaging specialist whose controversial opinions on the pandemic have earned him the ire of Dr. Robert Redfield, the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Redfield was overheard complaining on a commercial flight about Atlas, who has consistently misrepresented where the nation stands in its battle against the coronavirus.

Trump’s announcement came as the death toll from COVID-19 topped 209,000 in the U.S. Public health officials fear it could greatly increase throughout the fall and winter, as cold weather drives people indoors and quarantine fatigue sets in.

About two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, according to polls from mid-September. Just how much he can do to change those opinions at this point is unclear, and earlier assurances of victory have likely jaded some who want to see real gains before celebrating.

“We’ve passed through a challenging time,” Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday. This, too, was a reprise of sorts. “We are winning the fight against the invisible enemy,” he wrote in a widely discussed Wall Street Journal editorial. That was in June.

Trump promised 300 million N95 masks by September. He isn't even close.


Alexander NazaryanNational Correspondent, Yahoo News•September 29, 2020

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is falling far short of its goal of having 300 million N95 respirators available in time for the flu season, according to internal documents reviewed by Yahoo News. Though the supply of N95 respirators has greatly increased in the last several months, it is at a little less than one-third of promised levels.

N95 respirators protect wearers against the coronavirus better than cloth or surgical face masks; the name refers to their ability to filter out 95 percent, or all but the smallest, of particles. The masks are critical to people in medical settings and frontline occupations.

According to a briefing document dated Sept. 25 and sent to senior officials in the Department of Health and Human Services, the government now has 87.6 million N95 masks available, far short of the 300 million promised several months ago.

The administration has also stockpiled 49 million KN95 masks, which are certified by China, and are potentially less reliable. A recent study of KN95s imported to the U.S. found that 70 percent of the masks didn’t meet the required filtration standards.

N95 masks, on the other hand, are approved by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Source: FEMA

In April, amid shortages of N95s, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization for the Chinese-certified version while the U.S. ramped up domestic production.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services defended the Trump administration’s efforts to stockpile sufficient quantities of face masks, saying it has moved “with deliberate and determined speed to ensure supplies and equipment are available for frontline U.S. healthcare workers.”

In recognition of fierce competition between individual states for personal protective equipment, as well as between states and the federal government, the spokesperson said the department was “taking care not to disrupt the commercial supply chain.”

KN95 respirator masks for sale in Elgin, Ill. (Mark Black/ZUMA Wire)

A shortage of respirators — on both federal and state levels — could prose problems in the months ahead, as the coronavirus pandemic and influenza season could potentially lead to a rush on hospitals through the fall and winter. States have been preparing for precisely that scenario, which could be exacerbated by reopening plans that are continuing to move forward.

The federal government stepped in late in the spring, promising that both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Strategic National Stockpile would have adequate protective equipment. The days of doctors sitting through seminars on how to sew masks or posting YouTube videos on how to reuse respirators, which are intended for single use, would be relegated to memory.

There were 13 million N95 masks in federal coffers in the winter of 2020, when the pandemic first arrived in the United States.

On a press call with reporters on May 14, an administration official sounded confident. “We have an aspiration to eventually have a billion of those,” he said of N95 masks. He quickly acknowledged that the federal government wasn’t even close, even as he argued it was in much better shape than when the pathogen caught the nation unprepared in February.

An N95 respiration mask at a 3M laboratory. (Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters)

“We do anticipate having 300 million” by the fall, the senior administration official said. “So you can do the math: 13 million to 300 million.”

The White House declined to comment on the latest stockpile numbers.

While the supply of N95s has increased significantly, it may still pale in the face of intensified demand if there is a spike in cases and hospitalizations in the months ahead, as many expect there will be. A survey conducted earlier this month found that 38 percent of nurses say their workplaces have either few N95 respirators or no respirators at all.

The shortage continues in part because manufacturers in the United States lack the ability to produce the kinds of meltblown textiles needed to manufacture N95 masks. Instead of using the compulsory powers of the Defense Production Act, which allows for private industry to be commandeered for the sake of national security, the Trump administration has tried to coax manufacturers into helping meet supply shortfalls. They have responded, but it has not been enough.

Jana Winter contributed reporting to this story.