Apple Inc. has developed masks that the company is beginning to distribute to corporate and retail employees to limit the spread of Covid-19, Bloomberg reports.
The Apple Face Mask is the first created in-house by the Cupertino, California-technology giant for its staff. The other, called ClearMask, was sourced elsewhere. Apple previously made a different face shield for medical workers and distributed millions of other masks across the health-care sector.
The Apple Face Mask features a three-layer design that filters both incoming and outgoing particles like many cloth masks, and it can be washed and reused up to five times. The mask has a design with a triangle shape to accommodate the nose without fogging glasses, a rounded section for the chin, and adjustable strings for the ears.
The ClearMask is the first FDA-cleared surgical mask that is completely transparent. It shows the entire face so that people who are deaf and hard of hearing can understand what the wearer is saying.
Apple’s employees will begin receiving Apple Face Masks over the course of the next two weeks. Apple also provides basic surgical masks to customers who visit its stores, but these are not Apple-designed masks.
