Bragança anticipates masks production and already has 10,200 units
Yesterday afternoon, the Municipality of Bragança delivered 10,000 surgical masks, 600 KN95 masks, 10,000 foot covers and 3,000 caps to the Local Health Unit of the Northeast (ULSNE), for a total support of 18,000 euros.
The measure aims to support the health professionals of the Hospital with individual protection material, for their safeguard and the users.
It is recalled that, to date, the Municipality of Bragança had already delivered, also for the same purpose, to ULSNE, 11 full protection masks, 70 suits (category 3), 20,000 foot covers and 3,200 caps, in a total investment of 24,500 euros.
Bragança distributes more than 10,200 reusable masks by institutions and parishes in the municipality
So far, about 7,500 masks in fabric, for individual protection, sterilized and reusable, produced by 80 brigantine volunteers, in their homes, have been distributed to over 70 institutions, including PSP, GNR, Firefighters, Prison Establishments, IPSS’s and Boards of Police. Parish, rural and urban. The initiative came from the Municipality of Bragança, which appealed to the solidarity of seamstresses, tailors, dressmakers and sewing practitioners, in response to the scarcity of material on the market. To date, there are still more than 2,700 masks in production, with the Municipality expected to deliver a total of approximately 10,200 units.
“In this moment of particular difficulty, the Municipality tried to help, as much as possible, those who are daily confronted with social contact and who, for this reason, are more exposed to the risk of contagion”, says Hernâni Dias, Mayor of Bragança, on this initiative. “Basically, there was an answer to an existing failure in the market, the individual protection masks that, at the moment, do not reach everyone”, says the President, guaranteeing that it was only possible to respond to all requests “thanks to the solidarity of the brigantines and brigantines who, despite being on alert and quarantined in their homes, did not want to stop helping in this cause and put in the necessary manpower and care ”.
Thus, over the past few weeks, the Municipality has made available the material necessary for making the masks, providing it individually to each volunteer, so that the community’s solidarity and goodwill could take place. Once ready, the masks were taken by the Municipality to a laboratory, where they were sterilized at 120ºC, in a process lasting a total of three hours. Finally, the masks were distributed according to the needs presented by the various institutions that, in a state of emergency, continue to perform an important work of proximity, such as the Public Security Police, the Republican National Guard, the Firefighters, the Prison Establishments of Bragança and Izeda, the Parish Councils and Unions and Private Institutions of Social Solidarity throughout the municipality.
The masks have the particularity of being reusable, but they must be washed, after their use, at a temperature between 70 and 90 degrees, with the intention that their good use can help fill the lack of material in the institutions, thanks to the goodwill of the brigantine community.
These actions are part of the strategy adopted by the Municipality of Bragança to prevent and contain the spread of COVID-19, seeking to mitigate as far as possible its effects on brigantine society.
