During the days of fighting against COVID-19, and the implications it has on all of us, there is a shortage of some goods in various regions. But on the good side of things, we have a good number of people who are pledging to help in this fight.
Even the private sector is in some kind of “mobilization”. TechCrunch reports that Elon Musk has reported that he will make ventilators for all the hospital that needs them, and there are talks that GM and Ford can join him too.
Razer plans to produce medical masks
The gaming industry is willing to step up to this fight with Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan posting a Twitter thread about trying to convert some of the Razer’s manufacture capabilities to make medical masks that they will then donate to help in this challenging times. The related post can be seen below.
We intend to donate up to 1M masks to the health authorities of different countries globally. For starters, we’ve been in touch with the authorities in Singapore (where the @Razer SEA HQ is based) to donate some of the initial shipments to assist their fight against COVID-19.
— Min-Liang Tan (@minliangtan) March 19, 2020
A donation of one million masks is an excellent support to many locations that are running low on medical equipment. It can significantly help in the fight against this great enemy that concerns us all. The first shipment is going to Singapore, where their SEA HQ is based, and after that, they will contact other regions and countries that have a shortage to work out a plan to provide the goods.
A shortage of goods causes various problems
The WHO did not recommend to purchase medical masks if for people who are not showing symptoms of COVID-19, but since many aspects of the spreading are still unclear, and it is challenging to inform the masses, many people just tried to panic-buy large quantities of goods such as masks.
Even though many countries outlawed overpricing goods, like in China, some vendors in other regions seem to be unregulated. Prices for this kind of masks have skyrocketed since, going up to seven or eight times more depending on the country, due to an increase in demand.
We don’t know when Razer will start utilizing their manufacture capabilities to the fullest. Still, it’s possible that other companies could learn from their example and join this effort to support medical staff and prevent shortages.
Photo credit: The feature image has been taken by Stephen McCarthy for RISE via Sportsfile and was made available under a CC BY 2.0 license.
Source: Min-Liang Tan / Kirsten Korosec (TechCrunch)
