Personal protective equipment including medical-grade respirators and face masks will continue to be in short supply because of the shortage of a key material used to make them due to a limited manufacturing capacity of suppliers, the Associated Press reports.

The material, meltblown textile, is a fine plastic key to the composition of the filter used in N95 respirators and face masks.  The melt blowing process turns plastic into a thin, breathable mesh that screens out germs and viruses but allows respiration.

“N95s are still in a shortage,” said Mike Schiller, the American Hospital Association’s senior director for supply chains, told the AP. “It’s certainly not anywhere near pre-COVID levels.”

Despite Trump Administration claims that the national stockpile is filled and that equipment and supplies are plentiful, hospitals are reporting a shortage of masks and other PPE.  Public health professionals also recommend having PPE available in locations seeking to reopen, like schools and businesses.

Manufacturers are hesitant to purchase the expensive machinery needed to make meltblown textiles because they are unsure if the increased demand will continue, and they’re looking for assurances from the government that supplies will be purchased.

However, government investment in the manufacturing needed could prevent another catastrophic spread of coronavirus–or the next potential pandemic virus.

“The initial lack of personal protective equipment in nursing homes, and lack of infection control practices in general, contributed to a general community spread across the country,” said Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Andrew T. Chan, one of the authors of a paper published in The Lancet that found the initial wave of the coronavirus was exacerbated by the lack of proper PPE available to front line health workers.