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Face masks in high demand as omicron fuels rising COVID-19 cases

Crews at Premium-PPE in Virginia Beach are producing hundreds of thousands of face masks per day to keep up with demand.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — As daily COVID-19 linger at record levels in Virginia, the demand for face masks has also picked up.

Brent Dillie of Virginia Beach’s Premium-PPE said they're churning out just under a million masks per day. He said staffing shortages have been impacting their ability to meet the rising demand.

“We’ve definitely seen a big spike in demand,” Dillie said. “At the peak of the original pandemic, we maxed out at about 1.2 million -- roughly -- masks a day. That went down dramatically over the summer. And now we’re back not quite to that level, we’re still under a million masks a day but we’re probably closer to three fourths of a million masks per day.” 

From surgical masks to KN95s, Dillie said his team has been working 24 hours a day, five days a week churning out masks. That's been difficult with fewer staff members than usual.

Dillie said the rising demand for face masks, coupled with difficulty finding workers, is creating a problem.

“I think we’re facing the same challenges that a lot of other businesses across the country are facing,” Dillie said.

“It’s definitely is getting tight and then demand is close to kind of outstripping what our production capabilities are, and we’ve heard that recently from other producers in the country, as well.” 

But Dillie said he’s encouraging people to shop local when it comes to PPE, because some imported masks don’t always meet FDA safety standards.  

“If folks are buying certain masks on Amazon or masks that made in China, they have no guarantee that those masks are actually doing what they’re advertised to do to keep them safe," he said. "We want to urge people to keep supporting American jobs, keep supporting high-quality made products that are actually going to keep them safe.” 

Face masks work. Dille said they play an important role in slowing the spread of the virus, and he likened preventing illness to preventing car crashes.   

“It’s like a car, right? You need the airbags, and you need the seatbelt, and you need to drive slowly," Dillie said. "In my mind, the vaccine is the seatbelt, the masks are the airbags, and driving slowly is doing things like social distancing.”

Dillie said he expects demand for face masks to hold steady until about March, as COVID-19 cases climb across the country.

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