MASSACHUSETTS LANDED about 1 million N95 medical-grade respirator masks on Thursday through a humanitarian mission orchestrated by the Baker administration with the help of US and Chinese officials and the Kraft family, which lent the New England Patriots jet for the pickup and delivery.
“This was a total team effort on every level,” said Gov. Charlie Baker at an afternoon press conference at the State House.
He and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito along with Jonathan Kraft, the president of the Patriots, welcomed the plane when it arrived at Logan International Airport in the evening.
The whole mission was an example of the type of scramble states have to go through to acquire what would normally be fairly routine medical protective equipment. Indeed, the mission to China was prompted, according to Baker, when 3 million masks the state purchased from BJs were confiscated two weeks ago by the federal government as they were entering the country.
Baker, who has said he has placed $50 million worth of orders for protective gear, began brainstorming ways to secure the equipment outside of normal channels. He arranged for the purchase of the respirators from the Chinese company Tencent, and then reached out to Kraft for help in picking them up. Kraft is familiar with the issue as the chairman of the board at Massachusetts General Hospital. Baker also praised Chinese and US officials, as well as the governor of Alaska, for helping to pull the deal off.
Kraft paid about $2 million of the total cost of the masks. Most of the them will go to Massachusetts, but a portion of them will go to New York and Rhode Island.
The governor is expecting a surge in COVID-19 cases sometime between April 10 and April 20, and spends most of his time preparing the state to cope with the expected increase in hospitalizations. Personal protection equipment has been one of the top priorities. The governor tweeted out his gratitude Thursday morning along with a picture of the masks being loaded on to the Patriots jet.
