Chief Executive Officer of Apple, Tim Cook has announced that the company would be donating 10 million face masks to health workers.
The tech CEO, who made this announcement in a video posted on Twitter, urged the general public in the United States to stay home and follow the advice of health experts so as to help combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Proud to share we’ve been able to source 10M masks for the US and millions more for the hardest hit regions in Europe. Our ops teams are helping to find and purchase masks from our supply chain in coordination with governments around the world. pic.twitter.com/uTsA6eA5ks
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 25, 2020
” Apple has sourced, procured and is donating 10 million masks to the medical community in the United States. These people deserve our debt of gratitude for all of the work that they’re doing on the front lines,” Cook said in the video.
What you should know: Apple joins tech companies like Facebook to donates mask as the country struggles with shortage amidst the disease spread. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer had earlier said the company would be donating 720,000 masks as a protective measure against the disease.
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Nairametrics had also reported that Tesla would reopen its New York-based factory so as to produce and donate ventilators to people suffering from this disease.
The automaker, Ford had also shown support by announcing that it was working on a partnership with 3M and GE Healthcare to begin producing face masks and ventilators to help fill potential shortages caused by the coronavirus spread.
This development comes after the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo said that the Federal Government needed to nationalize the purchase of needed medical supplies.
He also said the shortage of masks and other lifesaving equipment such as respirators was leading to price gouging, as states competed with each other. New York, the hardest-hit state so far, estimated it would need 140,000 hospital beds in as little as 14 to 21 days.
New York now has more than 30,000 infections with 285 dead. That means the state has reported more coronavirus cases than any other state in the United States.
