It's more complicated than "just increase the supply". We've seen this play out in the first half of 2020.
1) Retooling factories and setting up supply chains takes time. You can't just start pumping out PPEs out of a new plant in a week; it takes months to organize.
2) In an emergency, by the time the production is ramped up, the demand may be gone. Some mask manufacturers were reluctant to increase their capacity early this year, because they've been burned by this in the past: they've overproduced for SARS, only to see the demand evaporate as the pandemic subsided, and were left holding the bag.
1) Retooling factories and setting up supply chains takes time. You can't just start pumping out PPEs out of a new plant in a week; it takes months to organize.
2) In an emergency, by the time the production is ramped up, the demand may be gone. Some mask manufacturers were reluctant to increase their capacity early this year, because they've been burned by this in the past: they've overproduced for SARS, only to see the demand evaporate as the pandemic subsided, and were left holding the bag.