Apple To Produce 1 Million Face Shields Per Week For Health Workers

Apple is aiming to produce 1 million face shields for health workers each week, CEO Tim Cook announced. This is apart from the company's donation of about 20 million N95 masks.

The plan, according to Cook, is to produce and ship a million face shields by the end of the week to parts of the U.S. where they are most needed then, and ship over a million more each week thereafter. In fact, the first shipment of face shields was already delivered to hospitals in Silicon Valley last week and, Cook noted that feedback from the doctors was "very positive."

According to Cook, the company's adjustable plastic face shield design can be assembled within two minutes and can be packed flat so they can be shipped by 100 in a box.

"This is a truly global effort, and we're working continuously and closely with governments at all levels to ensure these are donated to places of greatest need," Cook said in the Twitter video posted on Sunday afternoon. "We've launched a company-wide effort, bringing together product designers, engineering, operations, and packaging teams, and our suppliers to design, produce, and ship face shields for health workers."

With health facilities across the country struggling with the shortage of personal protective equipment such as face shields and masks, major companies have been stepping up to provide the necessary equipment that health workers need to protect both the patients and themselves.

For instance, General Motors, recently, encouraged other auto suppliers to assist in the efforts to produce medical equipment and even made its manufacturing blueprints for producing medical equipment available for any other company willing to join the mission. Other major auto companies such as Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler have also announced their initiatives to help the health industry. Tesla Inc. has also joined the efforts by working on creating much-needed ventilators made largely with Tesla car parts.

Meanwhile, apparel brand Under Armour has also shifted its production from footwear and apparel to fabric face masks and special fanny packs for health workers, while MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell also announced at a recent White House coronavirus press briefing that it is dedicating three-fourths of its manufacturing to produce 10,000 to 50,000 cotton face masks per day.