New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has sent the Patriots plane to China on a mission to deliver personal protective equipment back to Massachusetts. AIRKRAFT departed Shenzhen, China at 3:38 a.m. Wednesday morning and is expected to fly into Logan Airport on Thursday afternoon where it will be met by Mr. Kraft and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.
The Boeing 767-300ER is expected to deliver 1.2 million N95 masks and other critical medical supplies to the Commonwealth. The supplies will then be transported by the National Guard to a stockpile in Marlborough.
According to Politico, the Patriots have made the plane available after Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has warned that Massachusetts is in urgent need of personal protective equipment such as surgical masks and gowns and sanitizing wipes for healthcare workers as it braces for a peak the number of cases expected to hit the Commonwealth at some point between April 7th and April 17th.
As of Wednesday there were 7,738 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts with 122 deaths.
No days off. Thanks to some serious teamwork, Massachusetts is set to receive over 1 million N95 masks for our front-line workers. Huge thanks to the Krafts and several dedicated partners for making this happen. pic.twitter.com/ieV6XMC5Ow
— Charlie Baker (@MassGovernor) April 2, 2020
In addition to donating the plane, the Kraft family paid $2 million which is about half the cost of the masks.
300,000 of the masks will be sent to New York City to help them in their fight against the coronavirus.
