As the coronavirus spreads and the death toll mounts, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is sending two planes filled with protective medical equipment to China.
According to a news release, church President Russell M. Nelson, who was a renowned heart surgeon and performed his final operation in China in 1985, inquired of his longtime friends in the Asian nation as to what might be needed and learned of a need for protective equipment at the Children’s Medical Center in Shanghai.
Working with the humanitarian organization Project HOPE, the Utah-based faith is chartering one plane in Salt Lake City and another in Atlanta to carry supplies from church storehouses in those U.S. cities. The relief will include 220,000 respirator masks, 870 protective goggles and more than 6,500 protective coveralls to Shanghai.
“These are our dear brothers and sisters,” Nelson said in the release, “and we feel privileged to be able to offer some small measure of help. We pray for them and know God will bless them.”