March 25, 2020 / Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff
Topline: Tim Cook on Wednesday said Apple has used its supply chain to procure and donate 10 million N95 protective masks to combat the coronavirus, making Apple one of several California tech companies pitching in as hospitals across the country report a shortage of protective gear.
- In a tweet, Cook said Apple’s operations team is “helping to find and purchase masks from our supply chain in coordination with governments around the world.”
- Cook had previously said Apple is working to donate millions of masks, but the company had declined to say if Apple had already stockpiled them or were sourcing them from elsewhere.
- N95 respirators are masks that form a protective seal around a wearer’s mouth, filtering out at least 95% of particles in the air, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which makes them necessary to protect healthcare workers from being exposed to the disease from patients.
- Through a slightly different method, Facebook said it is donating its stockpile of 720,000 masks purchased during the California wildfires last year, which degraded the air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area.
