Coronavirus Pandemic: Apple Producing, Supplying Face Shields For Medical Workers

COVID-19 coronavirus is spreading at an alarming rate and every company is trying to contribute something to curb the deadly virus. Apart from apps and self-checking tools, Apple has come up with another solution. A tweet by CEO Tim Cook shows us that Apple has sourced more than 20 million masks and is closely working with governments to donate them.

Apple CEO Tim Cook posted a video on Twitter updating the company's efforts to fight against the COVID-19 crisis. The video elaborates that Apple's global supply chain is in full throttle to supply more than 20 million masks. The company is also working with the US government to donate them where they're most needed.

Apple Face Shields To Fight Coronavirus

At the same time, Apple has also begun working on a new type of face shield. It has initiated a "company-wide effort bringing together product designers, engineering, operations, packaging teams, and our suppliers to design, produce and ship face shields for health workers," Cook said in the Twitter video.

Apple is dedicated to supporting the worldwide response to COVID-19. We’ve now sourced over 20M masks through our supply chain. Our design, engineering, operations and packaging teams are also working with suppliers to design, produce and ship face shields for medical workers. pic.twitter.com/3xRqNgMThX

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 5, 2020

Further, Cook also shows off one of these shields in the video, which is said to help health workers fighting the COVID-19. "Our first shipment was delivered to Kaiser hospital facilities in the Santa Clara Valley this past week, and the feedback from doctors was very positive," he said.

The design of the new Apple face shields packs flat, counting up to a hundred in a box. "Each shield is assembled in less than two minutes and is fully adjustable. We're sourcing materials and manufacturing in the US and China," Cook further explained.

The CEO also noted that Apple plans to ship more than a million face shields by the end of this week and another one million in the week after that. Currently, Apple has been working to distribute them across the US but plans to expand elsewhere soon. "Our focus is on unique ways Apple can help, meeting essential needs of caregivers urgently and at a scale, the circumstances require," Cook said.