Amazon stops selling N95 masks to consumers to prioritize distribution to hospitals

Amazon is no longer selling N95 masks to average consumers, and instead prioritizing the product sales to hospitals and government organizations responding to the coronavirus pandemic. 

If you attempt to buy N95 masks on Amazon’s website, you’ll see the “add to cart” button is now gone. The company has replaced the function with a notice about the new restriction, which was first reported by Vox. 

Due to the pandemic, N95 masks are already in short supply. So Amazon wants to ensure key medical equipment is reaching healthcare workers, the company said in Wednesday posting to merchants on the platform.

“You may have offers on one or more products (ASINs) that will now be available exclusively to hospitals and government organizations, which are in urgent need of high-demand medical products like N95 masks, surgical masks, facial shields, surgical gowns, surgical gloves, and large-volume sanitizers,” Amazon said in the notice. “Select ASINs of these product types will no longer be available to the broader public on Amazon.com and AmazonBusiness.com.”

The company told PCMag that COVID-19 testing kits will also not be sold to consumers. However, you’ll still be able to buy other health-related items such as small-volume hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.

To help hospitals and government agencies buy the critical supplies, Amazon has set up a new dedicated page for COVID-19 supplies, where applicable buyers can fill out a form to qualify.

“We will not make a profit on this service. We are waiving all standard referral fees for third-party sellers on products supplied for this effort,” the page says. Amazon will fulfill the orders on a first-come, first-served basis. 

 The change occurs as Amazon has been prioritizing orders of essential goods such as groceries and cleaning items to buyers on the site amid a flood of demand from online shoppers now staying at home. As a result, the company has been warning that deliveries for items, especially non-essential goods, may take longer to arrive. 

In response, Amazon is trying to hire an additional 100,000 workers. However, there are concerns and protests from existing warehouse employees about their safety on the job as the coronavirus continues to spread across the US. So to protect them from getting infected at work, Amazon plans on making face masks available to all workers starting next week. 

“The millions of masks we ordered weeks ago are now arriving, and we’re distributing them to our teams as quickly as possible. Masks will be available as soon as today in some locations and in all locations by early next week,” Amazon senior vice president Dave Clark wrote in a blog post on Thursday. “Any N-95 masks we receive we are either donating to healthcare workers on the front lines or making them available through Amazon Business to healthcare and government organizations at cost.” 

The company is also mandating all employees go through a no-contact forehead temperature scan before they enter the warehouse premises. Workers who have a temperature at 100.4 Fahrenheit or higher will be automatically sent home. “We are now temperature checking more than 100,000 employees per day,” Clark added. 

This article originally published at PCMag
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