Florida emergency manager becomes Twitter ‘troll’ to plead for more masks

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Jared Moskowitz’s mission to bring more medical masks to Florida took him to a place many of us go to vent our frustrations: Twitter.

And the state’s emergency management director is getting an assist from Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

On Monday, Moskowitz tweeted at 3M Company, asking them to send N95 masks directly to hospitals and first responders instead of making the state deal with brokers and distributors as they battle the coronavirus pandemic.

“Hi @3M. I’m your new Troll,” he began his message.

Cuban, star of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” jumped into the conversation.

Cuban has been critical of 3M, saying in a Bloomberg interview that they sell the masks through resellers who aren’t held accountable for raising prices and aren’t compelled to direct sales to hospitals in need.

“3M lists all its distributors online, the ones buying and selling these things, and these distributors are making as much money as they possibly can,” Cuban told Bloomberg. “It’s wrong, it’s criminal.

“It’s operating like an illegal drug market, not a legitimate market. “I get wanting to make millions of dollars, but people are dying.”

Moskowitz responded to Cuban on Twitter, saying it “feels like a Ponzi scheme. Different distributors represented by brokers selling the same lot of masks bidding against each other. I’m chasing ghosts here.”

Moskowitz, a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, was appointed as the state’s director of emergency management by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2019.

According to the state, Moskowitz has requested the following supplies through direct federal assistance:

• 5 mobile intensive care units
• 5,000 ventilators
• 5,000 hospital beds
• 50,000 two oz. bottles of hand sanitizer
• 250,000 coveralls
• 500,000 gloves
• 500,000 gowns
• 500,000 collection kits
• 00,000 16 oz. bottles of hand sanitizers
• 150,000 Personal Protective Equipment kits, including coveralls, gowns, and goggles
• 2 million N95 face masks

Those supplies are being delivered on a rolling basis, the state says, with inventory being distributed throughout Florida 24 hours a day.

Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla. praised Moskowitz on — where else — Twitter, saying he’s “Not a troll. Just a public official doing his job. Trying to save lives.”

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