Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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World Depends on China for Face Masks But Can Country Deliver?

John Xie

   Phones have been ringing off the hook lately for Brian Edwards, a sales
   manager of a small medical supply company in California. And he has to
   say "No" to all the people who called.

   Edwards used to buy tens of thousands of facemasks from China. But not
   in the past three months.

   His company, the First Choice Industrial Supply Company, has not been
   able to get any masks from China since the outbreak of coronavirus in
   late December while the demand is soaring in the U.S.

   "You can't get a product. You are not going to get a product for
   months. " said Edwards, whose company advertises itself as "If it's
   something you use, it's something we stock".

   Edwards said in the interview with Voice of America last Friday that he
   gets about 50 calls and 50 emails every day from all over the country
   trying to find masks. But now in the U.S. "no body can get anything".

   "The worst you could possibly have." said Edwards.
   Shortages

   Edwards is at the center of a major problem that the nation faces now:
   There aren't enough critical medical supplies, such as facemasks,
   because China has stopped shipping them to the world.

   In the fight against the coronavirus, facemasks have become the most
   visible symbol of the deadly pandemic, worn by millions of people
   around the globe every day.

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