Navajo medical masks were part of White House contracting scam and may not work [View all]

Medical masks sent to the Navajo Nation were part of a White House contract scam. The masks were secured by a former White House aide who obtained a contract with the Indian Health Service and purchased those from China, ProPublica reports.

"A former White House aide won a $3 million federal contract to supply respirator masks to Navajo Nation hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona 11 days after he created a company to sell personal protective equipment in response to the coronavirus pandemic," ProPublica reported on Friday.

The masks provided were Chinese-made KN95s, the Chinese alternative to N95s.

U.S. regulators said the first week of April that these offer inadequate protection.

On Friday, the Navajo Nation reported a total of 4,529 cases of coronavirus. There have been 149 deaths.

Navajo President Jonathan Nez said, “The Navajo Nation is testing our citizens at a very high rate per capita, more so than any state in the country."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2020/05/navajo-medical-masks-were-part-of-white.html