ETA: unsure why the huge up and down vote swings. OP claimed only one company made masks in the US which is not accurate and then they edited with their source. No idea why I’ve went -1 to +5 and back for originally asking for a source.
I usually try to stay out of downvote discussions -- the HN guidelines ask us to not engage in such -- but I'm going to suggest that you are going to see a lot more trigger-happy downvotes because there's a pandemic on and it satisfies some psychological desire to shut something -- anything! -- down with a vengeance and post haste.
I would be inclined to assume that voting on all forums will be less rational, less calm, cool and collected and yadda for some weeks to come.
And when people are actually sick and running a fever, that will amplify the problem. I live with chronic health issues and other stressors. No amount of provisos is ever enough to get other people to not have knee jerk stupid reactions to me failing to be perfectly calm, cool and collected.
I imagine you are going to see a whole lot of upset and unwell people bouncing off each other and escalating tension instead of calming it down and this will go on for the duration of the crisis. As a wild ass guess.
ETA: unsure why the huge up and down vote swings. OP claimed only one company made masks in the US which is not accurate and then they edited with their source. No idea why I’ve went -1 to +5 and back for originally asking for a source.