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Asbury Park Press ArticleCoronavirus in NJ: Rep. Chris Smith frees up 41M medical gloves stuck in U.S. customs
By Erik Larsen, APP Staff Writer
At the request of Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has agreed to release 41.3 million medical-grade gloves that were being held at ports in Maryland and California. The gloves will be distributed throughout the United States to medical professionals, including to doctors, nurses and first responders, the congressman’s office said in a prepared statement on Thursday. The gloves had been held by the federal agency since late September, the statement said.
“Amidst the national emergency to combat the COVID-19, CBP had been holding the gloves for many months, and it took dozens of calls to numerous different federal officials,” Smith said. “But it was just too important to give up on.” All of the Asbury Park Press coverage of the coronavirus is being provided free for our readers. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Press at APP.com/subscribe. He said that Englishtown Councilman Greg Wojyn had connected him to Ansell, an Australian-based manufacturing company that produces medical and industrial gloves, and has a corporate office in Woodbridge. More: Coronavirus in NJ: Town-by-town breakdown of COVID-19 in Ocean County for March 26 About 32.5 million gloves were being held at the port in Baltimore and 8.8 million gloves were in federal custody in Oakland, California, the statement said. The medical gloves were expected to be shipped immediately, according to the congressman. Renae Leary, Ansell’s chief commercial officer for the Americas, said the gloves were essential in this health crisis. “Ansell is thankful for the efforts of Congressman Chris Smith and others to expedite the release of 40 million medical gloves into the United States,” Leary said in the statement. “During this pandemic, the lack of personal protective equipment for front-line medical workers is putting their lives and the lives of patients at risk.” “In light of that fact that New Jersey has the second-highest number of cases of any state in the country, Ansell has assured me that many of these will be put to use here in New Jersey,” Smith said.This story originally was published on March 26, 2020 and can be found online at: https://www.app.com/story/news/local/emergencies/2020/03/26/coronavirus-nj-rep-chris-smith-frees-up-41-m-medical-gloves-stuck-u-s-customs/2923687001/ |