Apple is stepping up to aide in the ongoing fight against coronavirus. In addition to shipping over 20 million face masks to hard-hit areas across the US, the company has also begun producing plastic face shields. Delivering its first shipment of shields last week, Apple plans to ship one million more by the end of this week and one million per week going forward.
News reports and gut-wrenching first-hand accounts on social media from front-line workers offer daily reminders of the US' dire shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). With essential workers coming in close contact with infected individuals - most acutely in the healthcare field - there is a consistent need for clean, effective PPE. However, already-low stocks of PPE are dwindling precipitously nationwide as the virus begins spreading across the Midwest and nearing its apex along the coasts, leaving an already over-extended workforce in increasing danger of contracting the virus.
Apple CEO, Tim Cook, took to Twitter recently to detail Apple's efforts thus far to help curtail the shortage of PPE. First, Apple raided its own stock of face masks and sourced others through partnerships around the globe, resulting in over 20 million masks being provided across the US. Other tech companies have made similar moves - Facebook, for example, provided over 700,000 masks from its private stock - to help address the well-documented mask shortage. Apple's other move - to manufacture and provide face shields - is more unique in nature. Face shield provide a different kind of protection for workers helping to hook infected individuals up to ventilators, among other things. Called intubating, the process involves inserting a tube into a patient's airway so that a ventilator can pump oxygen directly into their lungs, and often results in coughing that spreads saliva and by proxy germs. Already capable of producing one million shields a week via materials and manufacturing found in the US and Asia, Apple has pledged to ship these to hard-hit areas across the US, with an eye toward global shipments in the future.
Private Industry Stepping Up, But Could It Be Doing More?
It's no secret that the US' response to coronavirus has been scattershot in method and execution, with an ongoing war of words being waged and blame being flung back and forth between individual states and the federal government. Wherever the truth lies, the bottom line is that front-line workers in the US are putting themselves at incredible risk, daily, with or without PPE. The fact that enough isn't available is likely to remain one the pandemic's lasting story-lines, so any effort to help address it should be welcomed. Apple isn't alone in shifting parts of its business to try and curb the shortfall in PPE and other vital medical equipment, and given the way some other major tech players have seemingly fumbled the ball, their tangible efforts look downright heroic. However, if Apple's example doesn't inspire others to find creative ways of re-purposing their resources at a time when many aren't in the market for new phones or TVs, PPE shortfalls may continue.
Calls for the US government to use the Defense Production Act have been on the rise. Giving the President broad authority to order private industry to produce specific goods needed to counter a national security threat, the Act can marshal the kind of focused manufacturing the US may need to overcome its lack of preparedness in facing the coronavirus pandemic. The willingness of companies like Apple to not only step up but to continue providing supplies without a government order has doubtlessly helped and may well save lives, but if more companies don't join the coronavirus fight (by their own volition or government mandate), shortages of PPE and other medical equipment may lead to an even greater catastrophe than the one the world is already facing.
Source: Twitter