USA Today reports:
President Donald Trump traveled to Maine Friday to tour a facility that makes medical swabs used for coronavirus testing, but the swabs manufactured in the background during his visit will ultimately be thrown in the trash, the company said. Puritan Medical Products said it will have to discard the swabs, a company spokeswoman told USA TODAY in response to questions about the visit.
Workers in white lab coats, hair nets and plastic booties worked at machines making swabs while the president walked through the room. Trump, who did not wear a mask for the visit, stopped at one point to talk with some of the workers. Puritan, which received millions of dollars from the federal government to double production, is one of only two companies that make the kind of swabs needed in coronavirus testing.
Trump visits the coronavirus swab production line in Maine, without a mask, and the manufacturer says it will now have to throw away the day’s output. https://t.co/gq1lo4LD9t
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) June 6, 2020
Trump toured a facility that makes swabs for coronavirus testing, but the swabs made during his unmasked visit will have to be thrown in the trash. Meanwhile “nearly a third of Maine nursing homes reported they had no nasal swabs to collect specimens.”https://t.co/byvWbWtH4F
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 6, 2020
Great to be with President Trump in Maine today at Puritan Medical Products, a company that manufactures medical swabs. They were able to exponentially increase their production to help fight against COVID-19, part of the historic mobilization of American industry led by @POTUS. pic.twitter.com/N3kKxeKrrh
— Secretary Alex Azar (@SecAzar) June 5, 2020