Massive shipment of PPE, including 6 million masks, arrives in New Hampshire

By Dean Shalhoup

The Nashua Telegraph

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS Inventor Dean Kamen, who spearheaded the effort to bring a massive shipment of PPE to New Hampshire, addresses media Sunday while crews unload the shipment. At right is U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH.

LONDONDERRY – The first batch of the roughly 45 tons of personal protective equipment that touched down at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport Sunday afternoon will soon be on their way to Granite Staters “on the frontlines of this (COVID-19) crisis,” Gov. Chris Sununu said.

Praising legendary New Hampshire inventor Dean Kamen for “facilitating this heroic effort,”  Sununu was joined by Kamen, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and N.H. National Guard representatives on the airport tarmac as crews began transferring the huge shipment from a FedEx cargo plane to waiting National Guard trucks for distribution to what officials said is the area of greatest need in New Hampshire.

According to Sununu, the recipients of the protective gear will not be charged for the items. While the state Division of Health and Human Services purchased the equipment, he said, it will be reimbursed by federal funds, which Shaheen and fellow Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan procured.

It wasn’t immediately known where in the state the supplies are to be distributed, nor whether Nashua or area towns are on the list of recipients.

The plane, which arrived on schedule at the FedEx Freight Facility on the Londonderry side of the airport, had departed Shanghai, China Saturday night, then passed through customs in Anchorage, Alaska on its way to New Hampshire.

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