| On an unusually warm April morning in Charlotte, North Carolina, Michael Moloney refreshed his flight-tracker more than 100 times. Moloney is the president of direct sourcing at Premier Inc., which fulfills medical-supply orders for thousands of U.S. hospitals. "I was on pins and needles," he recalled. "We ship 2,500 containers a year of medical supplies to this country, but this one was different."
Moloney was waiting for a shipment of Chinese-manufactured masks to touch down in Chicago. U.S. hospitals were, and still are, desperate for respirators, which filter out virus-laden droplets that spew from coughs and sneezes. Premier found that hospitals treating Covid-19 patients only had three days of supply.  An EMT with N95 protective masks in Teaneck, New Jersey. Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg Though U.S. officials are now discussing when the nation will reopen, Moloney continues to work around the clock to ensure hospitals from New York to California have basic personal protective equipment. But there's a hitch. American companies making so-called N95 respirators can't meet the demand. Premier, in turn, has turned to the epicenter of a global gold rush for masks: China.
Thousands of facilities have popped up across China to respond to the demand for masks. They're shipping the Chinese-regulated respirators, known as KN95s, to the U.S. and beyond. But working with Chinese manufacturers comes with its own risks, including profiteering intermediaries, sky-high prices and potentially fraudulent products.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn't regulate or formally approve KN95s. Though the agency recently granted the mask an emergency use authorization, it can't help hospitals sort out bad apples. That means people like Moloney are forced to bear the risk.
And the risk is high: The false sense of safety could be more detrimental to doctors and nurses than lacking supply. Still, Moloney sighed with relief when the flight finally landed in Chicago and the respirators cleared U.S. customs. He trusts the masks he's sourced and vetted. But Moloney, and more importantly, the FDA, can't vouch for other Chinese-made respirators now flooding emergency rooms across the country. If they can't, who can?—Riley Griffin | 
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