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LA Startups Launch Effort To Buy N-95s For Local Hospitals

A number of Los Angeles area startups--including GOAT, Scopely, Honey, Factual, TotSquad, and others--has launched a new effort to buy N-95 protective masks for local Los Angeles area hospitals. The effort, being led by Jiake Lu, has a goal of raising $160,000, and so far has raised over $68,000 in donations from the local community. The group says it is looking to buy 30,000 face masks which it has already ordered from a supplier in China. The effort is called the Fight COVID-19: SoCal Tech for SoCal Hospitals (which is unrelated to this publication). N-95 respirators, which are used by medical teams to prevent getting infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, are in extremely short supply in the United States. Los Angeles County, as of Friday morning, had reported 4045 cases and 78 deaths from the disease, and recently started recommending that the public should cover their face with a bandana, neck gaiter, or home made masks to help slow the spread of the disease, but to reserve N95 and surgical masks for healthcare professionals.