Apr. 5th 2020 3:22 pm

Tim Cook is back with another update on Apple’s ongoing efforts to help healthcare professionals amid the COVID-19 outbreak. In a new video posted to Twitter today, Cook said that Apple has now sourced over 20 million masks for healthcare workers, and it’s still pushing to do more.

Over a week ago, Cook said that had sourced and donated 10 million masks to healthcare professionals, and now that number has risen to 20 million. These masks are being sourced through Apple’s supply chain.

Perhaps most notably, however, Cook revealed that Apple has designed a custom face shields for medical workers as well. The first shipment of these face shields arrived at Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara Valley last week, and the response from medical workers has been incredible, according to Cook.

Apple hopes to hit 1 million shipments for the face shields by the end of this week and to consistently ship 1 million per week after that.

The full transcript of Cook’s video is below:

In these very challenging and difficult times, I hope you’re staying safe and well. Teams across Apple have been working hard on ways we can support our heroic frontline medical professionals, and I want to share two updates today. First, the number of masks we’ve been able to source through our supply chain has risen to over 20 million around the world. 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. Second, we’ve launched 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. 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. These pack flat, 100 per box. Each shield is assembles in less than two minutes and is fully adjustable. We’re sourcing materials and manufacturing in the US and China. We plan to ship over 1 million by the end of this week and over 1 million per week after that. We are closely coordinating with medical professionals and government officials across the US to get these to where they’re needed most urgently. We hope to quickly expand distribution beyond the US in both these efforts. Our focus is on unique ways Apple can help, meeting essential needs of caregivers urgently and at a scale the circumstances require. For Apple, this is a labor of love and gratitude, and we will share more of our efforts over time. In the meantime, each of us can stop the spread of the virus by following expert advice to stay home and practice social distancing. Thank you for all you’re doing to help in your own life. Thank you again to those on the front lines of this fight. Stay safe and stay healthy.

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

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