NC manufacturers join face-mask campaign to combat coronavirus

GASTON COUNTY — CEOs at two Gastonia-based textile companies are part of an industry coalition enlisted to ramp up production of face masks for doctors and nurses treating patients with the novel coronavirus. The manufacturing campaign begins Monday, according to the National Council of Textile Organizations, an industry trade group.

Andy Warlick, CEO of Parkdale Mills, “worked closely with” Peter Navarro, an economist and confidante of President Donald Trump who is director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, on the face-mask program, the trade group said in a statement issued this weekend. Navarro is a controversial figure best known for his aggressive stance on trade tariffs and hawkish views on China.

Parkdale Mills and Beverly Knits, both headquartered in Gastonia, are part of a group that also includes Winston-Salem-based HanesBrands, Fruit of the Loom, American Giant (which has extensive Carolinas ties), AST Sportswear, Sanmar, America Knits and Riegel Linen.

A dire shortage of masks to protect health-care workers puts doctors, nurses and technicians at heightened risk to contract COVID-19 as they are treating patients.

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