An agreement has been made between 3M and the United States government to supply the country with 166.5-million face masks over the next three months.
The significant increase in supply will support healthcare workers in the US and allow the country to begin sending respirators to Canada and Latin America once again.
Today @3M and the @WhiteHouse announced a plan to import 166.5 million respirators over the next 3 months to support healthcare workers in the U.S. & balance global humanitarian needs, including much-needed respirators for Canada & Latin America. #COVID19 https://t.co/LdHa9hN3r1 pic.twitter.com/7sM6nMfNoo
— 3M News (@3MNews) April 6, 2020
American President Donald Trump had previously told Minnesota-based 3M to stop selling masks to Canada on Thursday, April 2.
The company’s CEO, Mike Roman, says the increase in masks from its manufacturing facility in China will supplement the 35-million N95 respirators currently produced in the United States.
“Given the reality that demand for respirators outpaces supply, we are working around the clock to further expand our capacity, while prioritizing and redirecting our supplies to serve the most critical areas,” Roman said.
“We’ll continue to do all we can to protect our heroic healthcare workers and first responders, and I want to thank our 96,000 3Mers for your tireless efforts – including those in our plants and distribution centers around the world.”
The company already doubled its production of N95 respirators in January, up to 1.1 billion per year, but it still hasn’t been enough to meet the significantly increased demand due to COVID-19.
