Aug 27, 2021 Comments (0) Press Releases, Recent News Like
WASHINGTON—The Biden Administration has awarded a contract for $6.5 million to U.S. Cotton LLC, the largest manufacturer of cotton swabs in the United States, to increase domestic production capability for polyester tipped swabs for home testing kits and mass testing applications to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of the pandemic, U.S. Cotton has retooled operations to produce over 400 million COVID testing kit swabs.
The Department of Defense (DOD), in coordination with the Department ofHealth and Human Services (HHS), announced the award today as part of theadministration’s broader effort to increase domestic production capability for essentialmedical supplies.
U.S. Cotton, based inCleveland, Ohio, said the company will increase its production capacity from 92million polyester swab tips per month to approximately 371 million polyesterswab tips per month by May 2022 to support domestic COVID-19 testing. The DODcontract award was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) tosupport the domestic industry base expansion for critical medical resources.
John Nims, President of U.S. Cotton said, “We are proud to be involvedin a national effort to help deploy these testing kit swabs for the Americanpeople. These swabs are designed to make it easier for people at home toself-administer coronavirus tests and will also be used for mass testingapplications, which is critically important. We greatly appreciate the collaborationwith DOD and HHS to ramp up essential capacity of polyester-based syntheticswabs that will help in the fight against the pandemic.
“We continue to step up to meet our nation’s critical need for American-madecoronavirus testing kit swabs on a massive scale. It is an honor to work withour government to help fight this pandemic and use our innovative technologiesbased here in the United States to fill a national and global demand fortesting kits. I especially want to thank Senator Brown and Senator Portman forall their incredible support to help us retool and expand our operations inCleveland. We can’t thank them enough for their tireless work and also want torecognize their hard working staff. As the Delta variant surges across thecountry, this timely investment will help in the fight against COVID by addingthis much-needed, long-term surge capacity.”
Kim Glas,President and CEO of NCTO, said, “We want to sincerely thank President Biden,the Department of Defense, and the Department of Health and Human Services forleading this critical industrial expansion effort. We appreciate the administration’scommitment to expand the U.S. industrial base for these essential products. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity toonshore these critical supply chains long-term and we look forward to workingwith the administration and Congress to advance long-term solutions.”
The Department of Defense (DOD), in coordination with the Department ofHealth and Human Services (HHS), announced the award today as part of theadministration’s broader effort to increase domestic production capability for essentialmedical supplies.
U.S. Cotton, based inCleveland, Ohio, said the company will increase its production capacity from 92million polyester swab tips per month to approximately 371 million polyesterswab tips per month by May 2022 to support domestic COVID-19 testing. The DODcontract award was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) tosupport the domestic industry base expansion for critical medical resources.
John Nims, President of U.S. Cotton said, “We are proud to be involvedin a national effort to help deploy these testing kit swabs for the Americanpeople. These swabs are designed to make it easier for people at home toself-administer coronavirus tests and will also be used for mass testingapplications, which is critically important. We greatly appreciate the collaborationwith DOD and HHS to ramp up essential capacity of polyester-based syntheticswabs that will help in the fight against the pandemic.
“We continue to step up to meet our nation’s critical need for American-madecoronavirus testing kit swabs on a massive scale. It is an honor to work withour government to help fight this pandemic and use our innovative technologiesbased here in the United States to fill a national and global demand fortesting kits. I especially want to thank Senators Brown and Portman for alltheir incredible support to help retool and expand our operations in Cleveland. As the Delta variant surges across thecountry, this timely investment will help in the fight against COVID by addingthis much-needed, long-term surge capacity.”
Kim Glas,President and CEO of NCTO, said, “We want to sincerely thank President Biden,the Department of Defense, and the Department of Health and Human Services forleading this critical industrial expansion effort. We appreciate the administration’scommitment to expand the U.S. industrial base for these essential products. We have a once- in-a-generation opportunityto onshore these critical supply chains long-term and we look forward toworking with the administration and Congress to advance long-term solutions.”
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NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestictextile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiberproducers.
- U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 585,240 in 2019.
- The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $75.8 billion in 2019.
- U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $29.1 billion in 2019.
- Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.5 billion in 2018, the last year for which data is available.
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CONTACT:
Kristi Ellis, VP Communications
kellis@ncto.org| 202.684.3091
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