Our Finest Hour
Epsilon Theory
April 2, 2020·15 comments·Politics
Federal procurement systems can't keep pace. Hospitals are desperate. Yet in the gap between bureaucratic bottlenecks and urgent need, something unexpected is happening: ordinary people with personal networks are solving what institutions can't. The question is whether this crisis-driven cooperation reveals something that was always possible, or something that can only work when everything else has failed.
- A tiny idea scaled overnight. Intel employees buying masks in China on their own dime and shipping them to colleagues in the US became the skeleton of a distribution system reaching hundreds of desperate healthcare workers within days, not months.
- Institutional speed is the real bottleneck. Government bulk ordering gets tied up in certification requirements and bureaucratic loops while frontline workers run out of basic protection. The constraint isn't money or supply, it's the system designed to allocate it.
- Bottom-up organization moved faster than top-down authority. A grassroots effort sourced PPE, raised $200,000, set up legal infrastructure, and distributed 15,000 masks in 10 days. The speed came from cutting out layers of approval and moving directly to those who needed help.
- Trust works differently when it's personal. Rather than relying on government verification, the group verified recipients individually, checked manufacturing standards directly, and built relationships with specific suppliers. Decentralized accountability replaced centralized trust.
- The real question isn't whether this works during crisis. It's what changes when systems that can't keep pace in emergency are supposed to lead in normal times. Does this reveal that distributed action is always superior, or does crisis burn away everything that usually constrains us?
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Comments
I am so appreciative of what the Pack is doing. In Iraq, they approved the money $5B to meet the challenge but the focus is on building rural hospitals, not the virus. Long term win I suppose.
Sulaymaniyah has 100 ICU beds and almost 2 million ppl. Our efforts to convince local businessmen to double that ran into the fact that the money is there. Instead, the efforts of local businessmen focused on families in need because of the economic crisis created by COVID 19.
Keep up the good work.
Disclaimer: Joining Pack may result in crippling depression, career and financial ruin, social isolation, and a loss of caring about pretty much everything.
Cool.
Stay safe, Tobin!
As the spouse of a clinical / hospital physician, though fortunately she is not an ICU physician, I am also very appreciative of what the Pack is doing. My wife has recounted the challenges that many of her colleagues are facing. I am proud to be a member of the Pack.
Ben…are you cool with sending this link to friends who might donate? Or do you prefer to publicize the effort through Epsilon Theory?
Spread the word however you can, Kevin! And thank you!
I appreciate and applaud this effort!
Receipt from donation comes from “Crutches 4 Kids”. All OK?
Yes! We were able to set up Frontline Heroes as a 501(c)(3) so quickly by setting it up as a dba within Crutches 4 Kids, which is a long-established 501(c)(3). Every penny coming into C4K goes to Frontline Heroes.
Thank you for your donation, Paul!
Ben, you, Rusty and the ET team are Ichiban!
Today, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of the United States announced their recommendation that cloth masks should be worn when going outside. The White House emphasized that it was a “voluntary” recommendation.
Wearing masks is more about conscientiousness and respect for others well-being. It is a statement that you care about your fellow citizens because you don’t yet know if you are a COVID-19 carrier or not. We found out that airborne transmission through just breathing was a major factor in the choir group here in Washington. No one knew they had it, but a large percentage of the choir was infected. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-29/coronavirus-choir-outbreak
Two months ago, the Chinese Communist Party enforced wearing masks when going outside in Wuhan and other cities. Numerous videos documented citizens defying orders (maybe because they didn’t have a mask) and facing violent consequences. It was quite disturbing. But, it worked to suppress the spread of disease. One wonders if that is why Japan has had a slow rise in the number of cases. Everyone is wearing a mask. Same could be said for South Korea.
Today, it’s not just masks that are required in Wuhan. If you want to buy groceries or travel, you have to install a phone app that logs your location, so you can show who you have been in contact with (uses bluetooth sensors to log other cell phones nearby). There are temperature sensors at every stop too. This is a sophisticated, state-controlled surveillance system which suppresses the surge of new COVID19 infections. Some would call this control of the COVID-19 disease a silver lining.
I have no doubt that is what we will face in the United States. We will all be wearing masks and showing our smart phones to go into grocery stores while workers measure our temperature. Co-Epi and MIT are already working on a phone app that protects individual citizens privacy. It is encourafging to see that they are trying to do that and that there is no government controlled collection of data. I want to believe that privacy is a human right. Maybe that is too idealistic.
“How to Sew a Mask” was one of the most popular articles searched by Google this last week (https://www.nytimes.com/article/how-to-make-face-mask-coronavirus.html). My mother and step-mother both said they were sending me masks. My wife is contemplating a no-stitch ninja-styled hood alternative: https://soranews24.com/2014/10/08/how-to-properly-wrap-a-ninja-hood-now-available-in-english/
Cloth masks will be a fashion statement soon. If you’re wearing a medical mask people may wonder why you have not given it to a medical worker.
Now is a good time to donate what N95 and other medical masks you have to our local hospitals. At the same time, you can pick up a warm meal from the courageous culinary stars in our community who did not fire their staff. They quickly pivoted to providing take-out meals and delivery. They are accepting donations for meal deliveries to hospitals. Their revenue is down 50% or more but they are upbeat and working hard.
Please support them by ordering a meal. Drop off any masks or other PPE that you have. And, support your own mental state. Giving to others will help you.
We have 4 local area restaurants in Seattle accepting masks and other PPE. More to follow soon. Here’s the link: https://www.friendsforfrontlineheroes.org/
Thank you!
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