News Update

General Motors will donate a half million masks to schools

General Motors is donating 500,000 cloth face masks to California schools, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced at a press conference Thursday.

The California Department of Education will prioritize distribution of the masks at schools with a high number of Native American, Black and Latino students, who have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19, Thurmond said.

General Motors has donated over 6.5 million face masks to people around the world since the pandemic began, said Gerald Johnson, the company’s executive vice president of global manufacturing, in a video played at the press conference.

“In the early stages of the pandemic we mobilized our teams to help support those in need in these times of crisis,” he said. “With speed and urgency we mobilized thousands of employees who worked around the clock to save lives by producing face masks, protective equipment and critical care ventilators.” — Diana Lambert