Hospitals in Washington state have discovered that their stock of N95 masks is counterfeit, after 3M, a company that makes the masks, said Saturday that at least one major stockpile of Covid-19 frontline workers was counterfeit.
The Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) said 3M had notified them of possible shutdown masks being distributed in the national inventory of personal protective equipment. The association then asked hospitals on Friday to remove the masks from their stock.
WSHA sent samples to the 3M fraud department where the company confirmed that some of the masks had been forged, according to a statement from the hospital association.
“It’s a wonderful feeling … Just to think that there are people who will do it – to manufacture counterfeit personal protective equipment that we so desperately need at the moment during this pandemic,” said Cassie Sauer, the president and CEO of the hospital association, told NBC News’ subsidiary. KING5.
Although the group has yet to confirm the number of results, they bought 300,000 masks from a believed third-party supplier of personal protective equipment, which is worth about $ 1.4 million. Of the hundreds of thousands of masks purchased, 60,000 were not distributed.
Sauer said all of the masks had “appropriate paperwork” and passed “physical inspection” and “testing.”
‘These N95s are precious resources we need to keep staff safe. It is reprehensible that counterfeiters sell counterfeit goods, ”said Sauer.
3M marked several lot numbers, located on the individual masks and the boxes in which they were sent, which could possibly be used by counterfeiters. According to WSHA, some of the lots were among the inventory purchased by Washington State Hospitals and the Hospital Association.
The group said it was awaiting 3M’s investigation into the remaining lottery numbers. So far, dozens of hospitals in Washington state have been affected.
Despite the counterfeit supplies hit the state, 3M, according to the hospital association, expedited an order for 1 million masks to fill aid.