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Who’s gonna buy the new iPhone if everyone’s sick?
Over the weekend, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, announced that the company is donating large stocks of sterile medical masks to healthcare facilities around the world to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
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
While Cook hasn’t specified where exactly this massive stockpile of masks will be coming from, with masks currently in short supply and high demand all over the world, reaction has been positive. United States Vice President Mike Pence commented on the matter over the weekend. “The president and I literally heard directly from Apple that they’re donating 2 million industrial masks to this effort around the country and working with our administration to distribute those,” he said at a White House press briefing.
Cook isn’t the only member of big tech contributing to the virus-busting efforts. Director Peyton Reed recently tweeted his thanks to Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his donation of a “truckload” of supplies, including masks, gowns, and more.
I want to publicly thank @elonmusk for sending a truckload of PPEs (masks, gowns, etc.) to UCLA Health today! They will be put to good use. My wife, her co-workers and her patients thank you profusely. pic.twitter.com/SiAdqMcPCT
— Peyton Reed (@MrPeytonReed) March 22, 2020
Even the ever-reclusive Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced over the weekend that the company would make their own mask donation numbering 720,000 strong.
Health workers urgently need more protective gear. To help, Facebook donated our emergency reserve of 720,000 masks that…
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday, March 22, 2020
Every piece of sterile equipment is a boon in these troubling times. Protective masks, as well as well as medical respirators, are at an all-time premium, and every additional piece of equipment is beneficial to health personnel working tirelessly to save as many lives as possible.
