Apple Helps Source Protective Masks
Building & Shipping The Masks
The recent coronavirus pandemic outbreak has created a sense of panic around the world. People are hovering over medical masks and sanitizers, which has created a shortage of medicinal essentials for patients and medical staff. According to stats, China was producing 20 million medical masks, but these days, the manufacturing has spiked to 60 million masks per day.
However, according to health experts, medical masks should be used by infected people, and in terms of protection against infection protection, the results will be modest. Even with this statement, no damping on demand has been visualized. The prices of masks have surged multiple folds on physical retail stores and online platforms like Amazon.
Fast forward in South Korea, the pandemic is growing, and people can be seen in queues outside the stores to buy medical masks. In terms of production, the n95 protective masks are produced in China and the production rate is stuck at 200,000 per day because prerequisite materials and technology are complex that’s essential for production.
Upon seeing these horrendous stats, Apple has started to step up. According to news, Apple’s iPhone’s manufacturer in China, Foxconn, has dedicated one of its production units to produce masks. By the end of this month, this production unit will create two million masks on a daily basis. This shortage is creating a chaotic situation for the medical workforce as they are in the front line for healing infected patients.
Back in February, the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, there is an inappropriate use of protective equipment by the people who aren’t working in frontlines. WHO has constantly been cautioning against the amassing of masks. According to him, the demand for masks has increased by one hundred folds while the prices are heightening with a 20% increase. In other words, the demand is higher than supply, and global stocks aren’t sufficient to meet the needs.
Silicon Valley is the integration of tech startups and businesses in San Francisco, and together, they have promised to provide over nine million masks. According to experts, these giant tech companies are trying to fill the inefficiencies of the government to meet the demand for medical supplies. The shortage of medical equipment has played a hurdle in treating infected patients.
This shortage gad forced the medical staff to design their own DIY masks or reuse the professional one, which tarnished the effectiveness. This practice also exposed them to infected people creating widespread of the pandemic. On social media, doctors are literally begging people to help meet these needs or donate the protective gear.
The owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has stated that it’s unable to meet the worker’s need for masks and protective equipment while the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, has released a statement reflecting their aim to donate over ten million masks for healthcare workers in the United States. This statement was released by the CEO through a tweet this last Saturday.
They are taking this step to show solidarity to healthcare workers working in frontlines and to help combat the spread of the fatal virus. Mike Pence, the President, released the first “non-verified” statement, but the CEO’s tweet has confirmed the news. During the White House press briefing, Pence stated that he and the President had verified the news from Apple.
As per the verification, Apple was donating two million industrial masks, and the government’s administration was helping in an equal distribution. However, the numbers were restated to nine million with 24th March’s press briefing by Pence. However, according to the CEO, they have declared ten million masks for the United States, while Europe will receive millions of them as well.
According to the tweet, the operations team of Apple was implicating the supply chain tactics to produce, procure, source, and donate the medical mask, which clearly states how Apple was sourcing such high numbers of masks. This is because demand might be high, but the global supply is tarnished. Even the big names like Amazon are living this shortage nightmare too.
According to Jeff Bezos, they are experiencing short supply of masks, but they have already placed orders for face masks. These masks are ordered for contractors and employees who have to stay outdoors as work-from-home isn’t an option for them. However, only a few of those placed orders have been shipped.
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, N95 masks and it’s effectiveness are based on proper fitting and usage. These masks are close-fitted masks that aid in keeping the virus and infected droplets away from nose and mouth. However, these masks are disposable, which again has created a shortage.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has collaborated to order hundreds of millions of N95 masks. This information was published by Pence, but he hadn’t mentioned the order placement company or timeline for shipping. For healthcare workers, the shortage of masks and protective gear has become a severe issue.
The medical workers are using ill-designed masks or none at all while treating the patients. Pence has also pleaded to construction companies for donating the masks. According to Pence, the protective masks used by the construction companies are beneficial and acceptable for ensuring protection, which is the prime reason to ask for a donation. He has also pleaded them not to order more of such masks.
These masks will protect healthcare workers from this respiratory illness. There is no clear information passed for donations processing by White Hose. According to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Dr. Anthony Fauci, fresh masks will be available sooner than weeks for medical workers.
He also mentioned the hustle to reduce the weeks to days for ensuring the protection of the nation’s treasure, the doctors, and other medical staff. But Apple is still topping the charts as, according to Tim Cook, they have sourced over twenty million masks. Their team is constantly designing, operating, engineering, and packing the medical masks. According to them, this is a global crisis, and they are continually trying to meet the needs!
Originally published at https://audiovisualaoce.com on April 10, 2020.
