Apple Designs Face Shields and Sources 20 Million Masks for Medical Workers

Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, took to social media on Sunday to share a video on Twitter about the tech company's part in the fight against COVID-19. So far Apple has sourced 20 million face masks thanks to its global supply chain and is working with governments to decide where to ship them. 

Furthermore, Cook shared the company's "company-wide effort" of designing, producing, and now shipping face shields for medical workers. Cook displayed one of these shields in the video. 

SEE ALSO: AMID SHORTAGES, THE FDA APPROVED FAST DECONTAMINATION SYSTEM TO RE-USE N95 MASKS

Apple's role in the COVID-19 fight

As the coronavirus predominantly spreads through droplets from an infected person to another person, appropriate face masks and face shields are crucial right now — especially for medical workers on the front line. There is a growing shortage of proper protective wear for healthcare workers around the world, and now some companies, like Apple, are stepping up to help out. 

In the video, Cook explained how the company has 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." 

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

As Cook noted, the face shields pack flat and 100 to a box, are put together in under two minutes and are adjustable. Apple plans on shipping one million of these face shields by the end of the week, followed by another million each week after that. 

"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," Cook said. 

At the moment, the company is working hard to get face shields out to medical workers in the U.S. but is planning on expanding its efforts globally soon. "Our focus is on unique ways Apple can help, meeting essential needs of caregivers urgently and at a scale the circumstances require," as per Cook.