Sununu: New Hampshire secures 91,000 pounds of PPE

By Dan McCaleb | The Center Square

Gov. Chris Sununu announced the state secured a shipment of about 91,000 pounds of Personal Protective Equipment to be distributed to the state’s front-line health care workers in the fight against COVID-19.

A FedEx cargo plane departed Shanghai, China, Saturday night, passed through U.S. Customs in Anchorage, Alaska, earlier Sunday and will land at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, New Hampshire, the governor said in a news release.

“One month ago New Hampshire wasn’t even in the business of PPE procurement, and today we secured 45 metric tons of this critical lifesaving equipment for our state,” Sununu said in a statement. “We worked around the clock, scoured the earth, and left no stone unturned to ensure New Hampshire has the resources it needs to combat this pandemic. Huge thanks to Dean Kamen for facilitating this effort, and all others who worked tirelessly to make it a reality – I couldn’t be prouder.”

Kamen, a New Hampshire resident, is best known for inventing the Segway PT self-balancing human transporter.

Sununu, Kamen, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and state officials were to hold a news conference at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport Tuesday afternoon to greet the plane and discuss the procurement of the PPE.

“This plane is delivering lifesaving personal protective equipment which will be immediately distributed to the brave Granite Staters who are on the frontlines of this crisis,” Shaheen said. “I congratulate and thank Dean Kamen for spearheading this heroic effort. Our State has not been receiving the PPE it needs and is running dangerously low on supplies.”

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Timely Medical staff