China is the world's largest producer and exporter of medical masks, accounting for 50% of the world's annual output, with a maximum daily production capacity of about 20 million. These include N95 masks and disposable medical masks. It is estimated that 20 million of them are disposable medical masks. In 20 18, the permanent population of cities and towns in China was about 800 million, and a large part of them were office workers. For example, about 3/4 of the permanent residents in Beijing are office workers, and about 1/2 of the permanent residents in Shenzhen are office workers. According to a conservative proportion, 1/4 of the 800 million urban population are office workers, that is, 200 million people. Ordinary people don't need to wear N95 masks, just disposable medical masks. Generally speaking, if disposable medical masks are changed every four hours, then every office worker needs two disposable masks every day, and 200 million people need 400 million masks every day. Compared with the domestic daily output of 20 million, the gap is obvious.
To sum up, the reuse of disposable medical masks is a complex problem. The best way is to preserve and prolong the overall use time. Many countries are also stockpiling medical masks and cannot expect to import them. The daily production capacity of 20 million in the Mainland corresponds to the demand of 400 million. What is the difference? This is a simple arithmetic problem. The key point is that before the epidemic is controlled, the large-scale work mode will have unpredictable consequences.