Bethenny Frankel plans to donate one million masks to hospitals fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
The former ‘Real Housewives of New York City’ star has been working with her BStrong Initiative charity and their partner, Global Empowerment Mission, to help bring much needed equipment into hospitals that are being put under pressure as cases of the virus – which also known as COVID-19 – continue to increase.
Bethenny had originally planned to donate 10,000 face masks as part of a service she called "BStrong corona kits", but as demand skyrockets, she has now revealed she expects to supply over one million masks to hospitals in limited supply.
Speaking to Radio.com, she said: "Every time there’s a disaster I really hear from my social media followers. They’re all over the world, and they let me know what’s going on quicker than the news for me sometimes. So a couple of people were talking about the masks.
"I get over a thousand messages a day with people from all over the country – every hospital, every clinic, everyone in a panic and with no supplies."
The 49-year-old reality star and businesswoman plans to start sending out supplies within the next few days to medical professionals who need them most.
Bethenny claims the N95 medically-approved masks are being produced the with the help of five different suppliers.
She added: "We have suppliers all over the world. We have suppliers and manufacturers in China, we have an Israeli company we’re working with."
The news comes just days after it was revealed Bethenny and her boyfriend Paul Bernon would be donating 10,000 masks to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where she was hospitalised in 2018 following a near-fatal allergic reaction to fish.
Last week, Bethenny said: "[We] wired the money for the first orders because this isn’t something that we can wait for donations for.
"Donations will come, but without the masks, more people will die. This is the biggest crisis now in my opinion."