Inside the Maine Manufacturer Racing to Supply America With Test Swabs
There are a great many heroes being revealed during our current adversity. Health care workers, grocery store workers, public transportation folks and more. Some of those heroes are in manufacturing.
It turns out that a manufacturing company in Guildford, Maine, is one of two companies in the world that make almost all of the swabs used for swab-based testing. The company’s called Puritan, and they’ve ramped up to produce swabs six days a week, at least 20 hours a day.
Social distancing in the factory is practiced to the extent possible, and employees are also taking all the other precautions they can: sanitizing constantly, covering up with protective clothing—including face masks as available—getting rest when they aren’t working, and staying home if they feel sick. (The company does have paid sick leave.) Temperatures are taken daily, and every employee has been given personal hand sanitizer.
“They are proud to be part of this. They are doing as much as they can, as fast they can, and being as safe as they can to provide products,” he says. “Management, including myself, are available to run machines if need be.”
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