Our Most Popular Blog Post of 2020 Is…

By Elizabeth Brotherton-Bunch
Dec 22 2020 |
PPE
Handbag maker cinda b is among the American manufacturers that switched over production lines to make face masks at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Photo courtesy cinda b

We weren’t surprised by the No. 1 most viewed post of the year.

Goodbye, 2020. We will not miss you.

We aren’t going to post a retrospective of the many events that happened this year; we’re guessing that very few people are interested in reliving most of the things that took place in 2020.

But we did want to share with you our most popular blog post of 2020: Need to Stock Up on Face Masks? Here are 30+ Made in USA Options.

It’s no surprise that so many people were interested in this post. The severe shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other critical supplies at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — many of which, unfortunately, continue to this day — laid bare the damage that decades of offshoring had produced.

It can be tough for the average person to know exactly how to help remedy things. But buying American-made face masks is something that, while it seems like a small gesture, can actually make a big difference.

Manufacturers across the country, from small one-person shops to major companies like Ford and General Motors, switched their production lines this year to make PPE and other critical equipment in response to the pandemic. Other manufacturers opened brand new facilities to make things like disposable face masks and hospital gowns.

We should be encouraging this production and doing everything possible to support it. But unfortunately, countries like China already are hard at work trying to undermine American manufacturers and workers and maintain dominance of the world’s supply of PPE. Sadly, there are some corporate leaders and longtime proponents of offshoring that would like nothing more than to see things return to business as usual.

In 2021, the Alliance for American Manufacturing will be hard at work advocating for public policy that strengthens American manufacturing. We will push the incoming Biden administration and leaders on Capitol Hill to put policy into place that ensures the United States has the ability to produce the critical equipment we need. We likely will call on many of you to support these efforts.

But in the meantime, buying American-made face masks is a simple way that you can support the U.S. manufacturers and workers that are making these essential supplies in our backyard right now.

So, check out the list of American-made face masks. As always, thank you for keeping it Made in America.