Facebook donating 720,000 masks to healthcare workers

Mark Zuckerberg has revealed his company will contribute directly to the frontline battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Facebook’s emergency reserve of 720,000 masks will be donated to healthcare workers to urgently provide them with more protective gear, Zuckerberg wrote on a post to his Facebook page. The company previously acquired this stockpile in case of prolonged wildfires in California, where the company is headquartered.

They are also working on sourcing millions of additional masks to donate.

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Other tech leaders and companies are also contributing to the cause. Elon Musk indicated on his Twitter account he has a mask shipment stuck at Los Angeles International Airport, and hopes for it to be freed up soon.

Yeah. We have a mask shipment stuck at LAX. Hopefully freed up soon.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2020

Jack Ma of China’s Alibaba is shipping emergency supplies around the world, such as masks, test kits, ventilators, and protective equipment.

Companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Google are also providing their computing power to researchers to accelerate advancements towards coronavirus treatments and a vaccine.