Into the trash went more than 18 million masks, 22 million gowns, 500,000 gloves, and more. That’s not counting states that didn’t give the AP exact figures or responded in cases or other measures. Rhode Island said it got rid of 829 tons of PPE; Maryland disposed of over $93 million in supplies.
States trashing tons of masks and pandemic gear as huge stockpiles linger and expire (msn.com)
Throughout the pandemic, public health trashed millions and millions of masks, gowns, gloves, and even throughout tons of ventilators. During the mask mandates, the world was throwing away an estimated 3 million masks per minute (seriously). The public health response was an environmental disaster, but ultimately had little impact on Covid as eventually, nearly everyone in the world has had Covid at least once.
