Masayoshi Son wanted to give his home country Japan 1 million tests, and suffered a huge backlash on Twitter from people who said too many tests would "overwhelm the health system".<p>[1]
<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/masayoshi-son-breaks-twitter-hiatus-to-tweet-about-coronavirus-2020-3" rel="nofollow">https://www.businessinsider.com/masayoshi-son-breaks-twitter...</a><p>No good deed goes unpunished, i guess.
Apparently, almost all of the world's saline bags were made in Puerto Rico, and a single hurricane disrupted this essential gear.<p>There have been longstanding concerns about strategic food - and even Oil supply, I don't see how the US or any nation can reasonably not have the domestic demand to meet an emergency.<p>China has been engaging in a form of systematic dumping on a variety of industries for quite a long time - most of us enjoyed the benefits of lower prices while local producers went out of business.<p>The nefariousness of their strategy is that it's often difficult to tell the difference between simple 'low-cost advantage' vs. actual dumping strategies, and who in the business world is going to argue against lower prices? Nobody.<p>The US military certainly wouldn't have 99% of their ammunition 'made in China', well, war is much more than bullets, moreover, there's much more to life than war ...<p>It's definitely time to have national regulations on a lot of such goods. A simple ban on the import of strategic goods would work really well - America is large enough that there'd be several domestic providers.<p>Americans would end up paying more for certain items, but does it really matter when the surpluses are so large? So it costs $4 per mask instead of $2? The price is not as important as availability. It would be a very natural and synergistic way to increase wages as well.<p>This could be done in concert with a few key allies on a product by product basis.
How much do the test kits cost and how are they made? What materials? I read there are like, 3 key special materials involved?<p>How are they administered? I've Googled and haven't found a simple answer. Is it spit?
Thank you. That's what I gotta say. Thank you.<p>I hate all the cynics and conspiracy theories here. It's a generous move, and deeply appreciated.<p>Jack didn't spend that much money to be a douchebag. He spent it because this will save countless lives.
One of the reasons the US developed its own test was that the test that China was using had a 48% false negative rate. These are probably the same tests.
Seems like a power move to me. Painting a picture for the world of struggling U.S. institutions needing a Chinese billionaire's help to weather a crisis.<p>I'm not even sure it's incorrect.
The issue isn't "test kits". Its labs to run the tests. It seems like the CDC and state governments are addressing that. Not really sure what this is trying to solve.
There is no way the current administration is going to accept them and make the US look "weak" or "dire". Without exaggeration it's an easy guess they will sit in a warehouse unused no matter how urgent the need.
The guy is either a complete idiot [1] or pretends to be one. I wouldn't over-analyze his actions too much.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHGd6LqAVzw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHGd6LqAVzw</a>
And what if the mask itself is already tainted with the virus? Wouldn't you want to verify that it's actually free of the virus in the first place? It is coming from China.