text_1: Former President Barack Obama's administration was to blame for the shortage of protective equipment like N95 respirator masks in the early months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
text_2: What's true: The U.S. federal stockpile of N95 protective face masks was largely depleted during the 2009 swine flu outbreak and was not restocked. What's false: However, the Obama administration was not solely responsible for the current shortage of masks. In the intervening years, the stockpile went unreplenished as the Trump administration failed to heed indications that dramatic shortages could occur.