With the surge of COVID-19 cases rising each day, Hospitals around the world are facing a shortage of medical supplies for healthcare workers to protect themselves while they care for those affected. A handful of tech companies are pitching in to fill in the gap. Tim Cook revealed that Apple will donate “millions” of masks to healthcare professionals in Europe and the US. In his tweet, he didn’t mention an actual figure to expect, and who gets what amount. Vice President Mike Pence noted in a briefing that 2 million N95 masks were headed to the US, thanks to Apple.
The mask donation adds to other Apple’s COVID-19 contributions, including $15 million in donations and a program that lets Apple Card owners skip their March payments without interest. Apple isn’t the only tech company taking part in this positive trend to fight the ongoing pandemic, we seen the likes of Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma have been donating masks, test kits, protective suits, and face shields, while Tesla’s Elon Musk has offered to make ventilators and face mask from his Tesla and SpaceX factories.
Our teams at Apple have been working to help source supplies for healthcare providers fighting COVID-19. We’re donating millions of masks for health professionals in the US and Europe. To every one of the heroes on the front lines, we thank you.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 21, 2020