Apple to Produce and Ship 1 Million Face Shields For Medical Workers Weekly

As part of efforts to help battle the global pandemic, Apple is designing face shields for medicals workers. The company also revealed that it sourced over 20 million masks globally through its supply chain.

The development was disclosed by Apple’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Cook on his official twitter page. Cook said that the company has engaged its product designers, engineering, operations and packaging teams to work with suppliers to get the shields produced and shipped to where they are needed.

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

He added that the first shipment of face shields has been delivered to a hospital in Santa Clara, California.

Face shields are essential for infection control

With the global number of confirmed Covid-19 infections now over 1 million, the need to take totally precautionary measures is important. The virus spreads mainly through body fluids, therefore the use of face masks and googles is essential.

However, for health workers especially those in the frontlines, the use of face shield is also important. According to HHS Author manuscript, healthcare workers faces are most commonly contaminated by splashes, sprays and spatter of body fluids.

Face shields are personal protective equipment that provides protection of the facial area (eyes, ears, mouth) from splashes, sprays, and splatter of body fluids.

However, Face shields are generally not used alone as they are used in conjunction with other protective equipment like face masks and googles

Apple designs fully adjustable face shields

The face shields are packaged flat 100 to a box and can be fully assembled in less than two minutes. Cook described the shield as adjustable and generally accepted by medical workers in Santa Clara.

Apple plans to ship over 1 million shields this week and a million every week after that.

Cook has revealed that the company hopes to quickly expand distribution beyond the US.

Since the virus broke out, Apple has made several efforts to protect its employees and also support the fight against the virus. The company has donated about $15 million worldwide in response to COVID-19.