Late Thursday the Patriots’ airplane belonging to Patriots owner Robert Kraft touched back on American soil after a heroic mission to retrieve 1.2 million N95 masks for Massachusetts hospitals. After losing 3.3 million masks in the Port of New York, Governor Baker announced in a press conference Thursday afternoon that he had found an unconventional way to bring the much needed PPE equipment to Massachusetts. 300,000 masks are set to go to New York State.
Governor Baker hailed the effort as “an example of how collaboration and partnership can lead to real solutions during these challenging times” in a recent Twitter post.
The Patriots’ airplane had to be modified in Ohio first to travel internationally, and was only allowed to be on the ground in China for three hours. The crew did not step off the airplane during the touchdown on Chinese soil. While 1.2 million masks made it back to the United States on the airplane, 500,000 are waiting transport.