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New Balance is making medical masks to help the coronavirus fight

Photo credit: NurPhoto - Getty Images
Photo credit: NurPhoto - Getty Images

From Runner's World

American shoe giant New Balance has volunteered to help boost stocks of PPE (personal protection equipment) by making face masks.

The US, like many other countries, is suffering from a severe shortage of safety equipment to keep hospital staff safe while they are treating victims of coronavirus, so New Balance has retooled its factories – starting with Lawrence, Massachusetts – to make medical-grade masks.

It announced the move with a post on the company’s social media accounts that featured a picture of a mask and said underneath:

‘Made shoes yesterday. Making masks today.’

A statement on the company’s website said: ‘The global COVID-19 health crisis has called on individuals and organisations to bring their expertise and resources to solve new and extraordinary challenges. New Balance has engaged its skilled and innovative U.S. manufacturing workforce to develop face masks to address the significant demand for these supplies.

‘We are producing prototypes for face masks in our Lawrence, [Mass.] manufacturing facility and hope to scale production using our other New England factories soon. We are coordinating our efforts with government officials and local medical institutions as well other U.S. consortiums and testing facilities.’

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