TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has donated 100,000 surgical-grade masks each to Iowa and Wisconsin to help frontline workers in the U.S. states in their battle against the Wuhan coronavirus.
Since the beginning of April, Taiwan has been donating millions of masks to countries struggling with COVID-19, CNA reported. The masks arrived on Tuesday (May 12) and were accepted by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and Wisconsin Secretary of the Department of Administration Joel Brennan.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers both thanked Taiwan for its donations, which will be distributed to healthcare workers in need of personal protective equipment.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson both tweeted their appreciation last week after the donations were first announced.
Just learned Taiwan is donating 100K face masks made by Taiwanese medical companies to Iowa as part of its very generous humanitarian assistance to the United States. Taiwan is a fellow democracy + friend to America. Thx to the ppl of Taiwan
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) May 5, 2020
Many thanks to @MOFA_Taiwan for donating 100,000 surgical masks to Wisconsin's first responders. We appreciate Taiwan's humanitarian efforts in the fight against #Covid_19 and their help in shoring up supplies of #PPE.
https://t.co/3uJPOpEBhT
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) May 7, 2020
Taiwan announced early last month that it would be donating two million masks to the United States in total.
In addition to Iowa and Wisconsin, the island nation has also donated 300,000 to the midwestern states of Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, according to CNA.
In the northeast, Taiwan has also gifted masks to New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut to help first responders on the ground.
