An anonymous donor has provided 100,000 pieces of personal protective equipment such as face masks for the state’s medical workers, according to a tweet from Governor Kay Ivey on Monday.
A spokeswoman for the governor said that any individual or institution seeking to make a donation at a large scale can get in touch with the governor’s office.
Masks and protective gear for the people working at COVID-19 screening sites have been in short supply, and state health officials have cited their scarcity as a key factor limiting the amount of publicly available coronavirus testing.
The breakdown of exactly how much of certain supplies being donated was not made available by the state.
The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) told Yellowhammer over email that they have two different systems for identifying the needs of various hospitals in the state.
The various county agencies and facilities make their needs known over those two systems and “[t]he available resources are then allocated based upon the request received,” according to Arrol Sheehan of ADPH.
Scott Harris, head of ADPH, said at a press conference Monday that he was pleased to see the donation come in, but had not been provided with specifics.
“It truly takes a team effort as we seek to flatten the curve!” concluded Ivey in her tweet.
A donor (who wishes to remain anonymous) has donated 100,000 masks/ PPE’s to our state. We are working to provide resources to our healthcare workers who are on the frontlines of #COVID19 It truly takes a team effort as we seek to flatten the curve! #alpolitics
— Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) March 23, 2020
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.
