Why does Apple have millions of masks to donate to the medical force?

Following Apple's continued announcements of donating more than 9 million N95 masks to help combat the corona virus pandemic, a clear question now arises, why does Apple have so many masks? Turns out the answer is quite simple. They did so to comply with last year's state regulations, to protect employees from toxic fumes from California bushfires.

CNBC said in Wednesday that the leaders of both Apple and Facebook (also contributed up to 700,000 masks, although not all of them are N95), confirmed that they had stored them in stock due to A wildfire in California in 2019 caused the state government to make laws that require companies to do so.

Why does Apple have millions of masks to donate to the medical force? Picture 1

In 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Commission adopted a regulation that requires employers to provide breathing equipment, including N95 masks, to workers when the quality indicator AQI air reaches a level that is not harmful to health.

" Surgical masks or items around the nose and mouth such as scarves, T-shirts and bandanas will not protect the smoke from wildfires ." This rule says. " The N95 respirator, as shown in the image below, is the minimum layer of protection against forest smoke ."

However, with Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California can hold up to 12,000 employees, it's unclear why Apple needs to store up to 9 million masks. Apple representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

During the 2019 forest fire season in California, there were more than 7,860 different wildfires, totaling more than 1 million square kilometers of forest burned.

Apple is constantly donating masks to the medical force

Why does Apple have millions of masks to donate to the medical force? Picture 2

Facemasks have been in shortage worldwide since the coronavirus outbreak and widespread spread, and health care workers are most in need of these items to care for the sick. Vice President Mike Pence announced on Tuesday that Apple has donated 9 million N95 gas masks.

Mr. Pence said: " Apple has taken the goods in their archives and donated 9 million N95 masks to health facilities across the country and to the national stockpile. As far as I know, pride. This launch is inspiring the president and really inspiring all of us who are working for the White House corona virus . "

On Saturday, Apple also donated 2 million industrial gas masks to help health workers. Mr. Cook confirmed this on Twitter after his company tried to find masks for medical workers in the US and Europe.

On the same day, Mr. Pence called on companies to join in with more material donations. He said he is optimistic about mask supplies and said clothing manufacturer Hanesbrands is retrofitting new production lines to its factory.

" This is a great time to go to your warehouse, and if you have an N95 mask, if you have those 100 or 10,000 masks, pack them up and take them to the regional hospital ." Mr. Pence said on March 21. To date, 454,000 cases of corona virus have been reported worldwide with more than 20,500 deaths. In the US, the number of people infected with this virus has more than 61,100 and about 850 died.