As the COVID-19 Pandemic began to unfold in early March those fighting on the front lines were left vulnerable. There was an obvious need for large quantities of high quality, medical grade PPE but the US international sourcing infrastructure quickly dissolved when it was most needed. Unscrupulous brokers, disjointed supply chains, and bogus PPE showcased the need for a reliable and trustworthy national and regional manufacturing ecosystem.
The issue was, the ecosystem didn’t fully exist. There were pieces of it in place - but it wasn’t as robust as it needed to be to quickly fulfill the needs at hand. Luckily, ambitious and innovative people all over the country, including many here in the tri-state pivoted what they were doing to meet the needs created by the pandemic. Individuals, manufacturers, universities, non-profits, and large corporations stepped up to save the day, figuring out how to quickly grow US based manufacturing.
Now, as the country works to open back up and economically recover from the fall out of the pandemic we have a second need for large quantities of masks - Urban Grade Masks for essential workers and the general public.
