The city-state of Singapore, population 5.6 million, has a face-mask problem. Namely, there aren’t enough of them to go around.
Thanks to the COVID-19 virus — better known as coronavirus — the tiny island right off the southern coast of the Malay Peninsula has had an issue keeping the masks in stock, along with hand sanitizer and other assorted items.
The government ended up subsidizing masks so that every family could have them after people decided to hoard them like they were bottled water in a storm. Pharmacies reported massive shortages of both the masks and sanitizer.
