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The U.S. has 2,755 factories that may be able to be repurposed to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, a unit of Moody’s says.

You’ve heard of General Motors (GM) making ventilators, and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (MC. France) making hand sanitizer. Turns out that lots of companies have facilities that can be repurposed to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.

A study run by 427, the Moody’s unit, discovered 2,755 corporate manufacturing facilities in the U.S., owned by large, publicly traded companies, that could be retooled to make equipment and supplies to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, including first-response equipment like masks, hand sanitizer, ventilators, and hospital beds.

The Moody’s unit keeps a database of facilities as part of its main business of assessing climate risk for companies and investors.

“We don’t have to get stuck, even if we’re focused on climate and environmental risk, if there’s something useful we can with the productive means on our hands, which is data on corporations and their facilities,” 427 CEO Emilie Mazzacurati said in an interview. “Here are the potential candidates.” The Moody’s unit is in talks with local governments “who may or may not have the visibility on facilities and corporates [who can] maybe reopen the facility and put people back to work.”

The firm began with a database of a million facilities owned by large publicly traded companies. Some 11,322 facilities were in “sectors of interest” that could be retooled, and 2,755 are in the U.S.

New York, which has the most diagnosed cases of Covid-19 in the U.S., has 149 facilities that could be repurposed, according to 427. Household and personal products account for 48 of those facilities, including 20 facilities owned by Estée Lauder (EL) and 10 owned by L’Oréal (OR. France). Recently, Estée Lauder said that employees would began producing hand sanitizer at its plant in Melville, Long Island. L’Oréal, the world’s largest cosmetics company, also ramped up production of hand sanitizer, with North American factories producing free sanitizer for employees, partners, and health-care workers.

In addition, New York has 57 manufacturing facilities owned by drug and biotech companies, including 16 owned by Pfizer (PFE), which was founded in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1849.

“There are opportunities for businesses and governments to work together to identify appropriate exceptions [to the existing regulatory regime] to allow companies to support the urgent public health demands,” 427 wrote. Pfizer is already working to identify anti-viral compounds in its libraries that could potentially address the coronavirus.

New Jersey and California, which have the second and third largest number of residents infected with coronavirus, each have 228 manufacturing facilities that could be repurposed to support the response to Covid-19. Companies with facilities in New Jersey include Pfizer, Merck (MRK), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), according to 427.

Pfizer, Merck, and J&J didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

In California, there are 29 companies owned by automobile and component companies that can help produce ventilators. The Moody’s unit also identified 18 facilities owned by textile and apparel manufacturers there, such as Nike (NKE), and VF Corp. (VFC) that could use their equipment to make masks or hospital gowns. Nike said in a recent conference call that it was looking into making personal protective equipment.

Nike told Barron’s in a statement: “Based on needs identified by the teams and health professionals at Oregon Health & Science University, our teammates are working right now on how best to help, including prototyping face shields with OHSU. We’re focused on working with OHSU to support Oregon health-care workers, as a start.”

VF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Michigan, meanwhile, there are 262 facilities, of which 181 are owned by automobile and component companies. GM is working with Ventec Life Systems to make ventilators while Ford Motor (F) will make ventilators with General Electric (GE).

The 427 report can be found here. The data is available free of charge to state and national governments seeking to engage with manufacturers in their jurisdictions, 427 said.

Write to Leslie P. Norton at leslie.norton@barrons.com