it was a very good thing that someone was quick on their feet and made this happen but 3d printing is no solution to the systematic lack of these supplies.
The problem here, and I think this will be much worse in the weeks to come in the US and the UK, is the institutional decline of manufacturing capacity and the reliance on long supply chains from countries which are themselves at max capacity.
Every country should be able to, in crisis, quickly switch to mass production of vital goods that guarantee the physical safety of their citizens. Globalisation and post-industrial societies might have created nice margins for some subset of the population for a while but I doubt the corona virus will be swayed by management consultants.
The problem here, and I think this will be much worse in the weeks to come in the US and the UK, is the institutional decline of manufacturing capacity and the reliance on long supply chains from countries which are themselves at max capacity.
Every country should be able to, in crisis, quickly switch to mass production of vital goods that guarantee the physical safety of their citizens. Globalisation and post-industrial societies might have created nice margins for some subset of the population for a while but I doubt the corona virus will be swayed by management consultants.