COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Federal Emergency Management Agency donated 15 million pieces of personal protective equipment for Ohio to help keep people safe from COVID-19.
The PPE comes from FEMA as part of a new program.
The Ohio Air National Guard has been working since June 24 to help stack thousands of boxes of masks and medical gowns at the Ohio State Fairgrounds.
The Guard is organizing the PPE then distributing them to education service centers, schools, higher education and hospitals.
“It's been a monumental effort,” said First Lieutenant Timothy Lemon.
Each box contains 100 gowns. There are 500 masks per box and they are stacked six feet high throughout the warehouse.
The masks, from 3M, are KN95 masks from China.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has authorized the use of the KN95 masks as a suitable alternative to N95 masks which are also made in China and Asia.
The Ohio Department of Education will receive 3 million masks.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will get 144,000 masks.
The Ohio Department of Higher Education will get 1 million masks and 2 million masks will go to programs and organizations that serve vulnerable populations.