Same in Taiwan, mask making has not been very profitable. Taiwan imports 93% of masks from China. Govt stepped in quickly on the brink of this outbreak though.

Same in Taiwan, mask making has not been very profitable. Taiwan imports 93% of masks from China. Govt stepped in quickly on the brink of this outbreak though. Govt called 34 companies together each responsible for different parts of mask manufacturing from material, machine parts, installation, assembly, etc and govt up front paid 6 million USD for 62 production lines to be installed and assigned military personnel to help man the lines 24/7. Daily mask production ramped up from 3 million to 10 million in 3 weeks. This is only barely covering Taiwan's domestic needs. Taiwan is now aiming for daily production of 20 million. For distribution, govt rations out all manufactured masks. Currently each citizen gets 9-10 masks every 2 week and I believe each doctor receives 40 per week. The price of the masks for regular folks is fixed at around 1 USD for 6 masks. It is free for med staff. As for the installed production line, once the mask maker reached the production quota of 5 million masks for a particular production line, the mask maker gets to keep that production line for free. Note that the mask makers, once involved in this project, pretty much gave their business as usual. I would think it is tax dollar well spent. EDIT: Try and include some English references: - [https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202003090013 https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202003090013] - [https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/03/10/2003732422 https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/03/10/...] - [https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2020/03/02/2003731896 https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2020/03...] - [https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/coronavirus-how-taiwan-is-cranking-up-mask-production-to-meet-shortfall https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/coronavirus-how-...] - [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/02/15/2003731015 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2020/02/15/20...]