The dentist, the donor, the dude in the van: Canadian coronavirus profiteers run rampant as Vancouver donates thousands of N95 medical masks to Wuhan
- A network of donors in Canada is sending much-needed N95 face masks and other medical supplies to the Chinese epicentre of the outbreak
- But local stores have sold out, as private resellers reap big profits from concerns about the outbreak
The deal took place at 9.30pm at a strip mall in Richmond, outside Vancouver, where “a Russian dude in a van” gave Anthony Tsui a sample of his merchandise.
The street price was steep – triple the normal rate – but the goods checked out, so Tsui soon came back for more.
But there was nothing illegal about the transaction, and Tsui, at least, was operating from the purest of motives.
He was buying N95 surgical-grade face masks to donate to doctors and other frontline workers in Wuhan, battling the outbreak of deadly coronavirus.
On Tuesday, he handed over 400 masks, bought at C$4.50 apiece (US$3.45), to a Vancouver network for donors started by dentist Chen Jianghao and organised via WeChat.
But the difficulty of sourcing masks points to local profiteering that has helped run supplies to almost zero at storefront retailers in this British Columbia city.