Not enough face masks are made in America to deal with coronavirus

Mike Bowen’s been a very busy man.

He's executive vice president of Texas-based Prestige Ameritech, one of the few manufacturers of respirators and surgical face masks still making them in the United States.

"I've got requests for maybe a billion and a half masks, if you add it up," he says. That's right — 1.5 billion.

Since the coronavirus started spreading in January, Bowen says he's gotten at least 100 calls and emails a day.

"Normally, I don't get any," he says.

Bowen is at the center of a major problem that the coronavirus has made crystal clear: There aren't enough domestic manufacturers for critical medical supplies such as face masks. And even if production ramps up, it's unlikely to be enough in the current outbreak.

Usually, businesses want orders to spike — they hope customers line up for their products.

But Bowen is not pleased.