Patriots Plane To Deliver 1 Million Masks From China To Bay State

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BOSTON – Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker thanked officials in China and the New England Patriots, who flew their plane to China to pick up a million N95 masks.

Many of the masks will stay in Massachusetts, but some will also go to New York and Rhode Island, said Gov. Baker.

The Governor specifically thanked the Kraft family for their persistence to get the masks for the Commonwealth, during his press conference this afternoon.

“The Krafts, our partners Ambassador Huang Ping, Dr. Jason Li, Gene Hartigan and our Covid-19 Command Center personnel teamed up to get this job done and we eagerly await the plane landing at Logan Airport soon,” Baker said during a press conference this afternoon.

“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,” Baker said in a Tweet.

The plane flew to Shenzhen, China early Wednesday morning to pick up the supplies, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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“It was designated as a humanitarian aid mission,” said Governor Baker.

The aircraft was reportedly allowed to be on the ground in China for no longer than 3 hours.

“It is an honor for our family to be a part of this humanitarian mission. We knew that purchasing greatly-needed N95 masks and providing the Patriots plane to expedite their delivery to local hospitals would immediately help protect our courageous healthcare professionals,” Robert Kraft said in a statement

Governor Baker also thanked the Governor of Alaska for allowing the plane to stop there for this aid mission.

“Our administration will keep pursuing the PPE necessary to support our brave front-line workers who are working tirelessly to save lives during this pandemic,” said Gov. Baker.

The masks are generally around $5 to $6 each.

The Governor will hold a press conference at 6:30 p.m. at Logan Airport later today, April 2.

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Photo courtesy of Governor’s Baker’s Twitter account